


Forged by Fire

by jessahmewren



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Ending, Battle, Bedrooms, Breakfast in Bed, Breathplay, Destiny, Dreams and Nightmares, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Falling In Love, First Dates, First Kiss, Fluff, Food Kink, Force Bond (Star Wars), Force-Feeding, Hair Brushing, I'm Sorry, Imprisonment, Jedi Training, Kneeling, Light Bondage, Light Dom/sub, Lightsabers, Love/Hate, Masturbation, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Masturbation, Nipple Play, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Showers, Slow Burn, Smut, Squabbling, Teacher-Student Relationship, The Force, Trust Issues, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-18
Updated: 2018-03-24
Packaged: 2019-03-06 07:21:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 22,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13406265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessahmewren/pseuds/jessahmewren
Summary: “You should do it,” he said, reading her thoughts.  “You should kill me.  Consider this your first lesson.”She lowered the lightsaber but did not turn it off.  “I’m not your student,” she said defiantly.Kylo did his best to smile despite the blackened gash along one side of his face.  “We’ll see about that.”Then he raised one hand, snapped his fingers, and Rey fell onto the snow, unconscious.





	1. The Sharpest Edge

-0-0-0-

He watched in horror as his grandfather’s lightsaber, his birthright, refused his command.  The girl had not bested him, not nearly, yet it sat there moving only slightly under his power. 

Yet not his power.  Seconds later it flew by his face, the blade he’d seen only in his dreams; she now held it aloft, ice blue and gleaming.  Its fire matched the blue pall of the snowy woods and its deadliness spoke of history and triumph.  Kylo snarled.  He would kill her with it and reclaim it for his own.

They clashed in a fury of skill and clumsiness.  He gained ground on her with each step.  Her fighting skills were unrefined…she had no finesse with the lightsaber; her only battle experience was probably squabbles with beggars on the streets of Jakku.  She fought with desperation and tenacity but not with the Force.  It would be her undoing. 

He had her at the edge of the canyon, her lithe body bent over the edge.  He could see her face clearly in the light of both of their sabers, fierce and afraid.  He could feel the Force coming off of her in waves, but she was yet to harness it. 

“You need a teacher,” he spat.  “I can show you the ways of the Force!”

Then, it was as if she had suddenly remembered the power available to her.  He could feel her gathering it, like taking a long, deep breath.  Great was her power, he thought.  A little thrill ran through him, edged with just a rake of fear.  When she finally exhaled it was like a hurricane. 

Strikes, blows, parries with deadly accuracy…the girl’s strength was multiplied tenfold.  She knew his moves before he made them, where he would grab before his hand struck out.  The second time she struck him, he knew through the Force the third was coming. 

He was gasping as she stood over him.  New wounds sizzled in the snow, and the pain was a blinding blur that he used to strengthen him.  Her face was impassive. 

“You should do it,” he said, reading her thoughts.  “You should kill me.  Consider this your first lesson.” 

She lowered the lightsaber but did not turn it off.  “I’m not your student,” she said defiantly. 

Kylo did his best to smile despite the blackened gash along one side of his face. 

“We’ll see about that.” 

Then he raised one hand, snapped his fingers, and Rey fell onto the snow, unconscious.

\---

Kylo Ren slid off the side of the exam table in the medbay, having finished his daily bacta treatment to repair the damage the girl had caused during their battle.  A few more, and he should be finished.

Though he should be at a briefing following the tedious task, he found himself in front of her cell, looking in on her through the small viewport. 

She was sitting on the small cot, her back against the wall.  She had her knees pulled up to her chest.  Her dinner tray was on the metal desk, untouched. 

He stood at the durasteel door as it slid open, and Rey’s head jerked in its direction a moment before the whisper of it sliding into the wall revealed the masked figure behind it.

He strode into her cell and sat down at the desk.  Then, without speaking, he slowly removed his mask. 

The last time she had seen his face she’d been standing over him and triumph.  Now, she was his prisoner.  How quickly things change, she thought bleakly. 

Kylo took the tall, clear glass of cool water from her food tray and took a long sip.  She eyed it hungrily, and he made no attempt to hide that he noticed. 

“Your food and drink is not poisoned,” he said simply.  His voice was soft, almost gentle.  He locked eyes with her.  “You’ve gone two days without water.  How much longer do you intend to hold out?” 

She did not answer him, but she set her mouth and pushed back at him through the Force.  He felt it bloom forth and bristle around him, stinging like needles. He smiled. 

“Come on, Scavenger.  I can feel your thirst.” 

He could also feel her wrath.  She still wanted to kill him.  Savagely. 

She narrowed her eyes at him.  “Rey,” she said simply.  It was almost imperceptible, it was so quiet.  “My name is Rey.” 

That time it was plaintive, more sure.  Kylo wrapped his lips around the word.  “Rey.” He set the water glass on the tray and turned his attention to the food.  He took the plate in his lap and took a bite of each portion, chewing thoughtfully.  His eyes never left her face. 

As soon as he had finished his demonstration, she launched herself at the water glass and drained it in three gulps.  She clutched the empty glass to her chest. 

Kylo Ren stood, towering over her.  One side of his mouth twisted upward.  “I’ll take that,” he said smoothly, as one leather-clad hand reached out to retrieve the glass lest she break it to use as a weapon against him (or herself).  For the briefest of moments, he brushed her slender fingers with his own. 

_Suddenly he is in his quarters…in his bed.  A woman is with him, beneath his hands.  His fingers round over slight hips, his palm smooths the taut flesh of her abdomen.  She is ticklish, and she laughs.  His mouth bends to her breasts, and he takes her into his mouth.  Laughter turns into moans.  One hand is buried in her hair, the other travels lower to feel how slick he has made her.  He raises his head to look at her, to kiss this wanton creature, who, lips parted, skin flushed and beautiful, is the girl who is now his prisoner._

The glass shattered when it hit the floor, slipping from his gloved hand.  He stepped back, looking at Rey with wide eyes.  She mirrored his expression, but said nothing. 

“Tomorrow, you will eat,” he said with unconvincing authority.  He grabbed the mask from the desk.  “Stand against the wall until this is cleaned up,” he added, indicating the ragged shards of broken glass. 

Rey did as she was told, her eyes never leaving his face. 

Kylo was so shaken he left without donning the mask. 

-0-0-0-


	2. The Beast Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I don’t ask people to do things,” he said quietly, his eyes moving over her face like they couldn’t decide where to rest. “I tell them.” He decided on a bead of sweat moving from her forehead to her temple and down the side of her cheek. He tracked its path. “Now it’s time to eat.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the kudos and comments; they keep me motivated! :)

-0-0-0-

Rey paced the small cell and counted the lines of durasteel in the seams of the floor.  Thirty-two.  There were thirty-two lines. 

There were no windows in her cell.  Only a small cot, a lavatory, and a durasteel desk with swivel chair attached to the wall.  This was probably the First Order’s idea of maximum security, she mused.  Even her cot had rounded edges, and the rough blanket she was given was of a woven fabric impervious to tearing. 

She had made smudges with her fingers on the shiny durasteel beside her cot, a crude system of tally marks.  She counted six.  Six sleep cycles, if that could be trusted as days.  She felt her body growing weak…soft.  It was not just the hunger; she was used to hunger.  Hunger could be used as a tool, a weapon.  It did not weaken her to go hungry.  What weakened her was to be locked in a cage.  Frustrated, she knelt on the floor and then straightened her legs, her body rigid.  She had done at least fifty pushups when the door to her cell slid open.

Kylo Ren filled the entire doorway of the small cell as he watched her.  He held her dinner tray in his hands.  He was not wearing his mask.

“Get up, Rey-with-No-Name,” he said roughly.  “It’s time for you to eat.”

But Rey did not stop.  In fact, she only quickened her pace. 

Kylo’s eyes darkened.  He set the food tray on the desk and squatted to her level.  He could smell her exertion, the warm moist air around her smelled of salt and sun-bleached sand. 

“Get up,” he said darkly. 

Rey dropped to the floor then, rolled over, and looked up at him.  Her chest was heaving; he watched the rapid rise and fall of her breasts as they strained against the strips of linen she wore over them. 

She looked up at him, his face upside down in her field of vision.  “No,” she said firmly. 

He hauled her up under her arms and she squawked once before he placed her properly on the bed, feet off the side.  His face hovered in front of her. 

“I don’t ask people to do things,” he said quietly, his eyes moving over her face like they couldn’t decide where to rest.  “I tell them.”  He decided on a bead of sweat moving from her forehead to her temple and down the side of her cheek.  He tracked its path.  “Now it’s time to eat.” 

Kylo flicked his hand in the direction of the door and it slid open.  Through the open door slid a chair.  Kylo grabbed it and sat astride it in front of her, crossing his arms along the back. 

“Would you like some water first?”  He was looking directly at her, but she was doing her best not to meet his eyes. Still, he could feel her through the Force--her anger, her apprehension at what was coming next. 

He leaned forward, capturing her gaze.  “That was stupid of you to exert yourself like that.  You need energy if you’re going to train.” 

She looked at him curiously, her eyes alight with disgust.  “I’m not going to train with you.”

Kylo raised his eyebrows.  “Yes, you are.  That’s why you’re here.  And you need you’re strength.  That’s why you’re going to eat.”  He grabbed the plate behind him.  “Open your mouth.” 

Rey swallowed, but her lips remained closed.  She tipped her chin, defiant. 

Kylo looked at her warningly.  “Don’t do that Rey,” he said.  “The hard way is not the nice way.” 

He tore off a piece of soft bread and held it in front of her.  It was warm and inviting, and she wanted nothing more than to close her mouth around it, but she did not. 

“I know you want this,” he said close to her ear.  “It’s yours.  Nourish your body with it.  You’re not proving anything by this game you’re playing.  I already know you’re strong.” 

The little surge of pride he felt from her pleased him.  So, she liked making him proud; he would have to file that away for future use. 

He pressed the bread to her lips.  “Eat this.” He repeated.  “I’m not asking.” 

She closed her eyes.  She was summoning the Force…he could feel it…for what, he could not tell.  Maybe to gain insight into his intentions, perhaps. 

“I don’t want to hurt you, Rey, but what I do next will hurt if you don’t do this simple task.” 

Her fear was like a ribbon of cool iron in the Force, rippling out from her.  It did not last long.  She was strong and would be a good student. 

His gloved hand caught her face and clasped her jaws open.  Her eyes lit with surprise, and a startled sound escaped her throat that made his cock twitch.  He tucked the piece of bread inside her mouth and far enough that she would have to swallow or choke.  He let her jaws close and kept a gloved hand over her mouth, nearly covering her nose.

Rey screamed beneath the gloved hand, not in pain or discomfort but in sheer frustration.  She felt betrayed by her body, her mind.  She had no choice but to swallow and submit. 

Kylo put one hand lightly at her throat with enough pressure to feel her swallow.  He smiled.  “Good girl,” he whispered.

He removed his hands, and she stared at him defiantly.  Her face was red and puffy with anger.  An unspent tear betrayed her, and he caught it with the tip of his gloved hand and brought to his mouth. 

“You taste like the desert, Desert Rat,” he said, and quirked his mouth into a half-smile. 

He forked a succulent-looking cut of meat and brought it to her mouth, to which she readily opened for him.  The rest she ate in this fashion, with Kylo feeding her and Rey eating and accepting with vigor. 

“Would you like some water,” he asked her when she had finished.  She eagerly shook her head, and he let her drink her fill.  “I’ll have a carafe left in here for you for whenever you are thirsty,” he said afterward. 

He reached up and tucked a strand of sweat-soaked hair behind her ear.  “Would you like a shower?” 

She nodded slightly.  “That would be nice.” 

“I’ll see to it then,” he said simply.  His hand still lingered over her ear.  “Are you going to be good?”

“Yes.”

He could feel the change in her through the Force, and was pleased.  He withdrew his hand and stood to leave. 

“Get some rest.  Tomorrow we train.”

-0-0-0-


	3. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He tsked quietly, his eyes shining. “I’ve kept you alive for this long and you still don’t trust me? Who taught you to doubt everyone’s intentions, Rey of Jakku?” His voice went lower, and his eyes grew dark as his hands went to her binders. Involuntarily, she jumped. “I would pay them back if I could.”

-0-0-0-

Rey let the hot water wash over her skin, reveling in its plenty and warmth.  On Jakku, she had been afforded no such luxury.  The only water baths she had been allowed were rare, were never full immersion, and were always cold.  Even under the hot spray, she shivered at the memory. 

 _Kylo Ren had fed her with a spoon_.  It’s the one thing she couldn’t forgive herself for…the one instance of survival instinct she had allowed that could be seen as weakness. 

She had genuinely thought that, had she not allowed it, he would have choked her into oblivion.  But now, under the cleansing spray of this shower, she knew he wouldn’t have.  She didn’t know why, but she didn’t think he could.

“Three more minutes,” the mechanically enhanced voice called from outside her shower stall.  Her stormtrooper escort waited outside the fresher. 

Rey hurriedly finished and begrudgingly shut off the stinging spray.  There was a small stack of clothing on a durasteel chair...a black tunic, shoes, and loose fitting pants.  Nondescript undergarments.  Training clothes, she thought to herself.  Kylo Ren had made it impossible to refuse wearing them unless she wanted to march naked back to her cell. 

She donned the clothes and knocked on the wall, a signal to her escort that she was finished.

\---

When the stormtrooper marched her past her cell, she stiffened in alarm.  “Where are you taking me? 

The trooper only ignored her, ushering her stubbornly forward.  A trill of panic straightened her spine, and she became acutely aware of her surroundings in case she had to break and run.  Not that she would get that far, she thought miserably.  The blaster the stormtrooper held at his side gleamed in the dull artificial light.

The hallway they were walking down gradually opened up.  The muted durasteel opened into a wider, brightly lit carpeted hall.  The stormtrooper finally stopped their forward momentum, turning sharply to the left before a set of dark grey unmarked double doors. 

Rey’s heart beat double time in her chest, and she tried fruitlessly to control it.  She could only imagine what awaited her on the other side…another interrogation? Torture? Or perhaps execution? 

The double doors slid open.  The room was dimly lit, but furnished in a manner that was personal, not just functional.  These were personnel quarters.  She swallowed. 

And from what she felt of him through the Force, that white-hot light that always indicated he was near, these quarters were Kylo Ren’s. 

“Bring her inside and then leave,” an authoritative voice called from within.  The stormtrooper responded by dragging her forward, bringing her to the middle of the room.  Kylo Ren was hunched over something at a small desk in the corner.  A single lamp was on. 

“There’s no reason to be so rough,” he intoned disdainfully through his mask.  “She’s not resisting you.” 

The stormtrooper scurried out of the room before he could be scolded more severely, leaving them alone. 

Rey looked around the room as best she could, but the walls and corners were so shrouded in darkness that it was hard to make out anything.  The room she was in opened into another room through a small hallway.  His bedroom, she suspected.

Kylo stood, put away whatever he was doing, and removed his mask.  He approached her, stopping just a few feet from her, his hands behind his back.

“Use your fear, Rey. Use it to strength you.  Let it give you focus.”  His features were strangely soft, almost empathetic. 

She scowled.  “I’m not afraid of you,” she spat.  She strained against the binders at her wrists as a show of the validity of the statement. 

His mouth quirked.  “Maybe not.  But your heart is beating faster than a Kowakian Monkey-Lizard.  You’re afraid of something.  What’s going to happen in here, perhaps?”

She said nothing, just looked at him with her steely gaze. 

He only smiled.  “Put out your hands,” he said.         

She looked at him dubiously. 

He tsked quietly, his eyes shining.  “I’ve kept you alive for this long and you still don’t trust me?  Who taught you to doubt everyone’s intentions, Rey of Jakku?”  His voice went lower, and his eyes grew dark as his hands went to her binders.  Involuntarily, she jumped.  “I would pay them back if I could.” 

His fingers wrapped easily around her wrist, squeezing the right one unnecessarily as he worked the binders until they popped free.  His hands were soft and warm and made her stomach clench. 

“Why are you freeing me,” she asked tightly. 

Kylo looked at her.  “I trust you.”

She set her mouth.  “You shouldn’t,” she replied coolly.

He huffed.  Her wild courage pleased him more than he would allow her to know.  The binders clattered to the floor, and he brought the wrist that he still held up to his mouth until it hovered in front of his lips.  Rey could feel his warm breath puff against the taut skin there.  He lifted his eyes to hers. 

“May I?”

She said nothing--stunned and confused by what was happening.  Wordlessly she watched as Kylo Ren closed his warm mouth over her wrist, suckling gently against her pulse. 

The gentle tug in her abdomen unspooled into a searing warmth between her legs.

She closed her hand, withdrawing it.  “I never answered you,” she accused, but it bore no sting.  She worked to keep her heart rate down, to steady her breathing. 

He smiled then.  “Oh yes you did.”

She blushed…a full-on, beautiful blush that colored her the apples of her cheeks, just like in his Force vision.  The sight of it went straight to his groin, and he had to stifle a sigh.

She narrowed her eyes at him, mad at herself for the little tell and rubbing her wrist as if his kiss had offended her.  “What was that?”

He pressed his lips together, his eyes soft.  “An apology,” he said simply. 

He cleared his throat, motioning behind him.  “Come with me,” he said.  “Today, you learn about meditation.” 

Rey looked warily at the little hallway, not knowing what to expect once she went down it.  She looked at him, then at the foreboding hallway, and her fight-or-flight kicked in. 

“No,” she said with a shake of her head.  “I won’t go with you.  I’ve had enough of your games.  Take me back to my cell.”

Somehow Kylo became even taller.  “You’ll go with me Rey.” His voice was bottomless and black.  “You’re not going back to your cell.” 

She screamed then and launched herself at him, throwing herself with such violent anger that she knocked him to the floor.  She sat astride him, both hands wrapping around his throat, trying to choke the life from him.

And Kylo let her.  He let her have her way for as long as he could stand it; feeling the breath leave his body was both terrifying and exhilarating.  He could feel himself almost strengthen in the Force as his body was weakening; his heart thundering in his chest, protesting the absence of air.  Spots exploded behind his eyes.  When he could stand it no longer, he wrenched her hands away. 

He flipped Rey on her back, pushing her arms back on either side of her head.  He ground himself into her so she could see exactly how hard she had made him.  Her eyes grew wide, her lips parted, and in that moment he wanted nothing more than to shove his tongue inside, to ravish her mouth, to take his prize.  Any misgivings he had had about taking this desert rat were long gone…he wanted her.  Stars help him, he wanted her. 

And he would have her…in his way and in his time. 

-0-0-0-


	4. Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Force bloomed and swelled between their bodies; it was like nothing Kylo had ever felt. It was almost like he could see a shimmer of it in the air. Then, there was something else--a ribbon of her arousal…strong, powerful…something he wasn’t ready for. Of course, she would draw on that primal energy as a source of strength. He had asked her to use the Force, yet had denied her an obvious source of power.
> 
> He shifted so that he was pressed into her center, and her eyes flew open. 
> 
> The Force was as much a part of them now as it was a part of everything. Never in all of his meditations or his trainings with Snoke had Kylo ever felt so in tune with it, so in sync with its power.

-0-0-0-

Rey wormed beneath him, the weight of his body shocking and oppressive.  She strained against his hold on her arms as he looked down on her hungrily.  Defiantly, she met his gaze.

“Are you going to hurt me?”

His face changed.  He looked at her fine features...the chiseled looks that were both hard and soft at the same time.  He swallowed.

“Of course not.”  His grip on her arms loosened a bit, and he dropped his head to hers.  “You may find me a monster,” he said quietly, echoing her words from the woods, “but I’m not that kind of monster.” 

Her relief colored the Force, and it shamed him.  She moved beneath him.  “Then let me GO!”

A corner of his mouth lifted.  “Free yourself Rey.”

She grunted in frustration.  “I hate you!” 

He smiled.  “Good. Use it!  Now get up.”

He pressed her into the floor of his room with genuine effort; her breasts were flush to his chest, his rock-hard cock strained against her hip.  He watched as she closed her eyes, pulling her lip between her teeth.

The Force began to gather around them.

Slowly at first, like water rising in a warm bath.  Between them, Rey’s nipples stiffened into peaks, and she caught her breath.  Beneath his hands, hers clenched into fists.

The Force bloomed and swelled between their bodies; it was like nothing Kylo had ever felt.  It was almost like he could see a shimmer of it in the air.  Then, there was something else--a ribbon of her arousal…strong, powerful…something he wasn’t ready for.  Of course, she would draw on that primal energy as a source of strength.  He had asked her to use the Force, yet had denied her an obvious source of power. 

He shifted so that he was pressed into her center, and her eyes flew open.

The Force was as much a part of them now as it was a part of everything.  Never in all of his meditations or his trainings with Snoke had Kylo ever felt so in tune with it, so in sync with its power. 

Slowly, Rey moved on him, drawing her heels up his thighs.  Kylo groaned into her shoulder, and his hold on her hands loosened. 

Rey had him down in an instant, her back arched and the front of her tunic hitched up just enough to show a patch of creamy skin.  Kylo watched her, fascinated.  Just as he grabbed her waist, the spell was broken. 

She tumbled off and stood hastily, trying to put some distance between them.  Her face was flushed, but her eyes were lit with triumph.  She couldn’t resist the small smile that played on her lips. 

Kylo was on his feet, but he did not approach her. 

“Well done, apprentice.”

Her head snapped around at the word, part of her disdaining it, but the rest of her liking the way it sounded.  Kylo took a step toward her.  “You’ve earned it.” 

\---

In the end, she had won.  Staring at the top of the ceiling in her small metal cage, Rey lay on her cot and thought of the day’s events.  She didn’t go with him as he had ordered.  She had gotten her way.  And, she had freed herself.  He had probably doubted she could, she thought.  When her thoughts drifted to Kylo Ren lying atop her on the floor of his room, a pool of wetness dampened her undergarments, and she pressed her hand to her sex.  He was grooming her as some sort of First Order pet, she knew.  He would kill her when he was done playing teacher.  She rubbed her face, residual soreness evident from where he had grabbed her with his gloved hand.  Still, her body had betrayed her.

She thought of how it felt when he had been on top of her, of that strange power, of how whole and complete it had felt, just like in the forest.  When she realized her hand had slipped inside her underwear, she couldn’t remember when it had happened. 

She scooted deeper under the blanket as her fingers dipped into her wetness.  It was hot and plentiful, and she spread it over her folds before gingerly circling the tender bud.

Rey stifled a moan, her face burning, and she suddenly wished to be durasteel…cold, hard, unfeeling, to at least not have these desires, to have to deal with these needs while in such a compromising situation.  It wasn’t like being back home, where she could rut and grunt herself to completion in the privacy of her own bed. 

Rey completed one more circle over her center before inserting one and then two fingers as far as she could.  She sometimes wished her fingers were longer so she could be better satisfied, but back on Jakku, she could lie back and dream of a faceless lover while looking at the stars through cracks in the AT-AT and her short fingers never seemed to matter. 

She moved her fingers in and out in a practiced rhythm.  She hooked them ever so slightly, putting pressure in the right places, feeling her belly quicken, her body tighten in preparation for release.  Forgetting where she was, she moaned quietly, bucking her hips.  Burying her head in a pillow, she inserted a third finger. 

She had to be quiet, she knew, but stars this felt good, and she had been denied her freedom, her future, and this felt so right…this felt like hers.  She fucked herself harder, not even blushing at the wet sound of her fingers sliding in and out of her body.  Her other hand went down to work her clit, dipping into her wetness before making slow, lazy clockwise circles that were enough to drive her to the brink. 

Rey felt her entire body hold its breath, and she rode the wave of her release for as long as it would carry her before crashing onto shore.  When she finally came, she did so into her pillow, bucking furiously under the comfortless blanket she had been given in her durasteel prison. 

She allowed her body to relax around her fingers as she would a lover, missing the feeling of being filled.  Finally, she withdrew and fell into a fitful and dreamless sleep. 

-0-0-0-


	5. Similarly Scarred

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His gloved hands closed on hers, adjusting her hold, and his mouth settled at her ear. “You can’t strangle it,” he said quietly. His voice had a rough yet gentle quality she had not yet heard from him. “Think of the lightsaber as an extension of your arm.” She nodded, doing as he said. Slowly, he withdrew his hands, dragging them along her waist as he did so. 
> 
> She had forgotten to breathe.

-0-0-0-

Rey stood in the middle of the large circular training room, her hands flexing nervously at her sides.  She felt vulnerable, exposed.  One side of the wall looked back at her, made entirely of reflective material.  Kylo Ren stood opposite her, unmasked, on the other end. 

She spoke first, her voice louder than normal in the cavernous space. 

“Where are my clothes?”

Kylo wrinkled his nose.  “You have new clothes,” he replied.  His eyes raked her body impassively, as if waiting for her to say more. 

“I’d like mine back,” she said.  She raised her chin.  “And my arm wraps.” 

He took a few steps toward her, his head tilted in thought.  “Those rags were filthy.  If they withstood the washing process, you may have them back, but without the belt.”  He looked at her arms. “You may wrap your arms in my presence only.” 

She almost smiled.  He had budged just an inch, she thought.  That meant he might do it again. 

He turned then and walked toward the back wall of the training room.  “You won’t be needing those,” he said almost casually as he flicked his finger and the binders around her wrists dropped to the floor.  She tentatively rubbed her wrists where the binders had bit into her skin. 

Kylo grabbed two training sabers from a rack on the back wall and turned to face her.  He paused, as if he had forgotten to say something.  “You are to wear only what I give you. Do you understand?”

She swallowed, nodding.

“Good.”  Kylo tossed her a lightsaber.  “Your mind and body are like stones; they are strong but they are able to be broken.  They need to be refined…put to the blade.”  He ignited the lightsaber, a mischievous glint in his eye.  “These training sabers are set to stun.  They won’t hurt very much, and barely break the skin.”

Rey’s eyes went wide, and her grip on her lightsaber became even tighter.  Kylo suddenly turned his off.  “You’re holding it with too much force,” he said. 

He came around behind her, his large body quickly engulfing hers.  She could feel the solid warmth of him, and she fought the compulsion to lean back against the warmth, to close her eyes and let him swallow her whole. 

His gloved hands closed on hers, adjusting her hold, and his mouth settled at her ear.  “You can’t strangle it,” he said quietly.  His voice had a rough yet gentle quality she had not yet heard from him.  “Think of the lightsaber as an extension of your arm.”  She nodded, doing as he said. Slowly, he withdrew his hands, dragging them along her waist as he did so. 

She had forgotten to breathe.

\---

Hours later, after Kylo taking her through a rough overview of the standard readiness maneuvers of lightsaber battle, they advanced and retreated across the training room, sweat pouring off of each of them. 

They both had little nicks and abrasions…Rey more so than Kylo.  Rey swung her lightsaber in a sweeping undercut which Kylo deftly parried with an overhand blow.  Rey caught it with her own blade, refusing to give ground.  Her face was strained, defiant, yet unforgiving.  In the reflective wall, their blades looked like mating butterflies. 

Kylo grunted with the effort, at the same time pleased with Rey’s strength but frustrated by the deadlock.  He looked in her eyes. “Those clothes of yours stank like the Jakku desert,” he spat.  “Like poverty and shame.”  He could feel the anger in her rise and surge forth in a great wave, yet she did not harness it.  A shadow passed over her face, and she swallowed whatever emotion she was feeling. 

“Don’t push it down, Scavenger,” he snarled.  “Use it.  _Feel it!_ Let it make you stronger!” 

He lost ground a little as her anger rose again, and she broke the hold and slashed his lightsaber with three or four strokes before he grabbed her hands and they were once again in a battle of strength and wills. 

“There’s no shame in my poverty,” she spat.  “Not all of us could be the child of royalty.”

He didn’t know if it was the mention of his mother or the insinuation that he was some entitled brat, but the last thing he remembered was hearing her scream and crumple to the floor. 

His lightsaber clattered to the ground as he rushed to her side. Rey lay on the floor, a bright red abrasion on her cheek, unconscious.  A jolt of fear stabbed at Kylo’s defenses.  Without hesitating, he scooped her up in his arms and ran with her down the hall to the medbay. 

\---

“Hold still,” he said quietly.  “It’s not supposed to feel good.  You’re injured, after all.” 

Rey groggily opened her eyes, willing them to focus.  She was not in her cell. 

She was in someone’s quarters, lying on a bed.  The room was tastefully furnished in hues of dark blue, black and grey.  Her eyes fixed on a white bust of a woman in her field of view. 

She flinched as Kylo Ren removed the bacta patch from her left cheek.  “We are similarly scarred, now.  Although yours will fade.”

Rey became fully aware of herself and tried to rise from the bed.  Kylo gently pushed her back down by her shoulders.  “You’re not allowed that,” he said simply.  “You have a concussion.  You hit your head when you fell.” 

She looked at him dubiously, and only then did she feel the splitting ache in her head.  She was no longer wearing her training clothes, but the simply white tunic given to all visitors of a medbay.  Her eyes widened in alarm, as if she was just remembering. 

“What is this place,” she asked him, but already suspecting the answer.  “Why am I not still in the medbay?” 

Kylo studied her intently.  “These are my private quarters.  I couldn’t leave you in the medbay for fear of you escaping.  And you’re not well enough to go back to your cell unattended.” 

Her eyes widened in alarm.  He only smiled.  “You will be safe here,” he said almost gently. “There is a seating area over here where I will rest quite comfortably.  I will be able to minister to your needs until you are well, which shouldn’t be more than a few days.” 

She moved to sit up, to tell him she wouldn’t stay here, to tell him she would be just fine by herself, but as she began to brace her arms to do so, she found that they were tethered to the bed.

An overwhelming feeling of dread crept up her spine when she realized she was trapped here like an animal.  Silken ties held either wrist fast to the headboard, preventing her from leaving.  She shot Kylo Ren a look of pure disdain. 

“It’s only until I can trust you again,” he stated plainly.  “The last time I trusted you I nearly paid for it with my life.”  

Rey laughed bitterly.  “I should have killed you in the forest when I had the chance,” she said icily.

Kylo approached her, his face very close to hers.  “Probably,” he said.  “But you didn’t.  And you’re here now.” 

He pulled up a chair and grabbed her hand.  She refused the hold so he clutched her wrist as he applied bacta to the little cuts and scrapes from the day’s training.  “These will heal nicely,” he said casually, “if you don’t aggravate them with your thrashing about.”

He finished his ministrations and brushed the hair away from her forehead.  “Goodnight Rey,” he said, and walked over to the fresher to prepare for sleep. 

“I won’t get a wink of sleep in this bed!” she called out after him.

Kylo popped his head in the doorway.  “Really?  It has to be more comfortable than the cot in your cell.  And you had quite a good night last night, didn’t you Rey?”  He flashed a knowing smile.  You should be thankful I left your hands free.”

With that he left her, eyes wide and mouth agape, tied to his bed.

-0-0-0-


	6. Weakness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey felt the white heat of his presence first, the thumbprint of his person in the Force, and then a searing spark of desire. She blushed profusely; it was no secret that he wanted her…he had made this known to her in a variety of ways, but never had he allowed her to pluck it from his mind as he had now. But beyond that, there was a glowing warmth, a rhythmic steady brightness that threatened to swallow the other two. It pulsed with a strong and steady beat.
> 
> You see that Rey, Kylo’s words rang in her head. That’s the virus you’ve infected me with. My growing feelings for you.

-0-0-0-

She cried in her sleep. 

At first, Kylo was certain she was awake, but when he rose on one elbow from his sleeping couch, he watched her chest rise and fall in the darkness…watched her closed eyes as tears streamed from beneath them, trailing down her cheeks and dampening the pillow on which she lay. 

He swallowed, watching her.  It was a soft, piteous sound, a sound that begged soothing.  He lay back down on his sleeping couch instead.

\---

Morning came before the sun of whatever world they found themselves near had breached the horizon.  Kylo was up and in the fresher before Rey had stirred.

She awoke to a splitting headache, and winced at the coming light.  Her throat was dry, and the abrasion on her face sang for want of tending.  She closed her eyes again, trying to go back to sleep. 

“Good morning.” 

She smelled him as well as heard him, and cracked one eye to look at him.  His body radiated energy and warmth.  Straight from the fresher, he smelled of thunderstorms and pleasing scents she had no name for.  She felt flushed.

“Hi,” she said simply.  “Will you untie my hands please?”

He pursed his lips.  “Since you asked so nicely, then yes I will.”  He looked pleased with his benevolence, and she didn’t know if she should smack him or kiss him, and the choice her mind presented shocked her.  She looked at the ceiling as he worked at the bindings at her wrists, overwhelmed by the mere presence of him. 

When she was finally free she tried to rise, but was so dizzy she nearly fell back.  Kylo caught her with one arm.  “Not so fast,” he said calmly.  “Breakfast first.”  She looked and there were two small bowls of what appeared to be a variety of fruit and clotted cream on the small table by the bed.  He met her eyes.  “Do you mind if I eat with you?” 

She blinked.  “Don’t you have a Rebellion to crush?”  His mouth quirked.  “Something like that.  And not to worry, the war against the Rebels is well in hand.” 

He helped her sit up, placing a pillow behind her back, and handed her a bowl.  They ate in silence for a few moments before Kylo spoke. 

“Do you always have nightmares, Rey of Jakku?” 

She glanced at him with an impenetrable gaze, and then averted her eyes.  “I don’t have nightmares,” she said evasivly. 

He chewed thoughtfully.  “You would lie to me?”  There was an edge to his voice, just under a threat. 

She looked down into her bowl in silence, and then placed it on the table.  “I don’t want any more of this,” she said quietly. 

He pressed his lips together.  “That’s two lies in a row.”  He deposited his bowl near hers and sat down on the edge of the bed.  His gloved hand went to the juncture of her shoulder and neck, and then around to her chin to hold it firmly.  He looked at her intently. 

“You’re hurting me,” she said finally.  Her hands went up to his wrists as if to pull them off. 

He released her. 

She could feel him in the Force--a white hot energy--a mix of anger and confusion and something else.  She watched him stand to leave, a strange look on his face. 

“A droid brought your clothes last night while you were sleeping.  You may dress in them today.  I thought you might be more comfortable in your own clothes.” 

She watched him go, watched him retreat in his frustrated fury.  She looked on his sleeping couch where her clothes lay folded neatly, and wondered if she would ever understand Kylo Ren at all. 

\---

He did not return until evening, and she was never taken back to her cell.  To her surprise, she was not secured to the bed again, either, though she did spend most of her time lying down.  Her head still ached, and she frequently felt dizzy enough not to trust her feet for too long. 

She had taken advantage of the fresher, feeling a bit like a voyeur as she touched his personal things.  She had dressed in her clothes, barely recognizing them without a sheen of grime on them.  Even with her rapidly healing injuries, she almost felt whole again. 

She heard the door unlock and close, pulling her from her thoughts.  Then she felt him reaching out to her through the Force.  He had done it more than once through the day, stretching out just to touch her as if making sure she was still there. 

As if she had anywhere to go.

He did it now as he made his way through the quarters and she felt his relief as he found her very much the same way he had left her. 

Warmth bloomed through him when he saw her, betraying his cool exterior.  She looked as she had looked in the forest, vital and her cheeks ruddy.  Her hair was damp and tangled. 

He cleared his throat.  “I see you used the fresher.”

She pressed her lips together.  “I’m sorry, I should’ve asked.” 

“No, it’s fine,” he said quickly.  “I’ll get you some things if you need them.”  Secretly he swore at how stupid he sounded, and wondered suddenly why he was so unnerved. 

“I don’t need anything,” she said.  “Thank you for my clothes.” 

He nodded curtly.  He indicated the tangled mess of her hair.  “Do you need help with it?”

She blushed, and he could feel himself stiffen.  She bit her lip.  “Sort of,” she said.  “I don’t know where the stitches are.” 

His mouth twitched once before moving swiftly into the fresher.  He returned with a brush and comb.  He wasn’t wearing his gloves, and his cloak was missing.  “Scoot up,” he said roughly.  She looked back at him shyly, trying to read him in the Force, but he was, as always, unreachable. 

He positioned himself behind her on the bed.  Tentatively, then more assuredly, he grabbed her hair close to her scalp, holding it between his fingers and thumb.  He tugged it and she gasped before he let it slide silkily through his hands.  Kylo leaned forward, inhaling her warmth.  Her shoulders were rigid against him, and they trembled slightly.  Everything about her was soft and smelled of his soap. 

He put a pillow between them and brushed the hair back from her forehead, urging her backward.  “Try to relax,” he said quietly, “and just trust me.”   It was the softest he had ever spoken to her, and for a moment Rey wondered if he had said anything at all or if, in her flustered state, had she just imagined it.  She leaned back ever so slightly, just enough to feel the resistance of his body through the pillow behind her.  When he pulled the comb through it the first time, she exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. 

Then, for the first time Kylo opened his mind to her.

Rey felt the white heat of his presence first, the thumbprint of his person in the Force, and then a searing spark of desire.  She blushed profusely; it was no secret that he wanted her…he had made this known to her in a variety of ways, but never had he allowed her to pluck it from his mind as he had now.  But beyond that, there was a glowing warmth, a rhythmic steady brightness that threatened to swallow the other two.  It pulsed with a strong and steady beat.

 _You see that Rey_ , Kylo’s words rang in her head.  _That’s the virus you’ve infected me with.  My growing feelings for you._

She inhaled sharply, turning to look at him.  His face was unreadable, but his eyes were as unguarded as she had ever seen them.  There was a softness there that she longed to see more of.

“Turn around,” he said hoarsely.  “I’m not done yet.” 

He delicately worked out the tangles in her hair until it was as smooth as flax, the light he allowed her a glimpse of earlier bright and humming around them.  When the last section was complete, his hands settled at her shoulders, and she reached up and grabbed one of them. 

“No one has ever done that for me before,” she said without turning around.  “Not in my entire life.”  Then, almost as if he couldn’t prevent himself from doing it, he threaded his fingers in hers.  The light surged.  His forehead dropped to her scalp; Rey could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck. 

 _You’re the weakness that is killing me,_ she felt him say to her.  _And I don’t know how to stop it._

-0-0-0-


	7. Of Fire and Ice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She moved a little in his embrace, but she did not tense nor did she wake. Kylo relished the feel of her against him, soft and warm. She fit perfectly to his body and smelled fresh and good. He pressed his face into her hair and inhaled, cleansing his nostrils of the stench of the battlefield. Cleansing his soul. 
> 
> The light that pulsed between them whenever they touched glowed stronger, and he caught a glimpse of her through the Force. She was far away, shrouded in darkness, but she was there. He closed his eyes against her hair, willing their light stronger. Come back, Rey, he said to her in his mind, Come back to me.

-0-0-0-

The abrupt halt jolted them both as the ship came out of hyperspace, causing Rey to topple backwards into Kylo before righting herself.  Taken aback, Kylo reached for his comm and rose.

“Hux,” he said tersely. “Report.”

The clipped, slightly annoyed voice of General Hux rang over the clamor of the bridge behind him.  “There’s a Resistance base on the Outer Rim Territory of D’Qar,” the General said tightly.  “Our dreadnoughts have established a perimeter and we’re setting down shortly.” He paused.  “We’ll need you on the ground.” 

Kylo closed his eyes briefly.  Rey watched him where she still lay back against the bed, her hair silken and gleaming from his attentions.  When he opened them, there was a flash of darkness there, bold and resolute.  So much contrast in one man, she thought, so much fire and ice. 

“Prepare my shuttle,” he said into the comm unit.  “I’ll be there shortly.”

He turned to her, a look of regret glancing briefly across his face.  She said it for him. 

“You have to go.”  Rey’s eyes were large, but his were no longer black with the thought of killing her friends.  They were soft and fixed on her. 

He swallowed.  “Yes,” he said.  He knelt beside her and, reaching up, ran the back of his hand against her hair.  His eyes refused to settle on one part of her face.  Instead, they flitted everywhere as if memorizing her features. 

“I have to go now,” he said, “so why do I find it so difficult to leave?”

Rey exhaled, moving her head just slightly so her cheek would fall against his palm.  Instantly, it warmed with his touch, and she showed him through the Force the light—the virus, as he had called it, that he had shown her.  She felt the warmth of it on her cheek where his hand had touched her and from the surprise in his eyes, she was sure he had felt it too.

He only nodded, his eyes warm and wide with wonder.

Kylo withdrew his hand and stood, disappearing into the fresher.  He reappeared wearing his cloak.  “I’ll return,” he said simply from the doorway of the bedroom. 

He said nothing else.  She heard the lock snick behind him, leaving her alone. 

\---

Kylo Ren stepped out onto the thickly forested surface of D’Qar, the smoking ruins of a decimated temple smoldering to his right.  The acrid smell of blaster bolts, death, and destruction colored the air.  The tremulous strains of despair still rang in the Force…he could feel the threads of lives lost and those still hanging in the balance. 

Kylo breathed it all in like a cool breeze, letting it edify his body. 

He gripped his lightsaber tightly as he made his way, half hunched, his body taut, through the tight line of stormtroopers that parted to let him through. 

The battle still raged.  Rebels darted from nowhere, swarming like insects to meet the wrath of his blade.  The First Order had withdrawn air support, and ground units were limited.  The Resistance was not done with this fight, but the First Order would finish it.

Under the mask, Kylo blinked sweat from his eyes.  His breathing was labored.  The dark side of the Force surged around him and he could feel rather than hear heartbeats all around him…the fast, rapid heartbeats of the hunted. The slow and dwindling heartbeats of the dying. 

Suddenly he sensed a familiar presence, a presence he had not sensed since Starkiller Base.  It was the traitor, FN-2187.  He swallowed, stretching out through the Force to shake the coward from his hiding place.  He had not yet been executed for his crimes, something that would have to be rectified. 

Finn broke from the shadows, a stormtrooper electrostaff descending from his right hand.  His face was twisted into an angry snarl. 

“Put that weapon down, Traitor,” Kylo Ren’s mechanical voice intoned from beneath his mask.  “You’re no longer worthy of using it.” 

Instead of putting it down, Finn extended it to its full length.  “Make me,” he said darkly.  Kylo Ren jumped, arching his back, his lightsaber blazing and crackling overhead, and threw his entire weight and might into vanquishing Finn, into meeting the blow Finn had wielded. 

Their weapons clashed with ferocity, the two sources of energy sparking and surging with the force of their momentum.  Kylo disentangled them by pushing Finn violently away, slicing a glancing blow that caught him just below the knee.  It was a flesh wound, but he saw the man wince, saw him bend involuntarily to favor that side of his body.  Kylo whirled, his cape spinning, buoyed by the winds of D’Qar.  He saw an opening on his unprotected side, but the man was faster.  Finn stretched his body to deftly parry Kylo's blow, knocking himself off balance but staying alive for a few more minutes. 

Kylo was enjoying himself now…stalking his prey.  He twirled his lightsaber with delight, enjoying the unstable red light as it crackled and lit the dark. 

He kicked the man’s legs from under him, and he was down on the wet undergrowth of the forest with nothing but the stolen electrostaff between him and Kylo Ren’s deadly red lightsaber.  Finn looked up into the emotionless mask.  The arm holding the electrotaff against the lightsaber began to waver, until Kylo Ren grew tired of the game and wrenched it away where it winked out on the wet forest floor. 

A gloved hand held him just tightly enough at the throat so that Finn could get a small amount of air in and out. 

FN-2187 looked up at Kylo Ren with undisguised hate.  “Where is Rey,” he wheezed.  “What have you done with Rey!”  It took every ounce of his strength and stamina and Kylo, enjoying his display, loosened his hold on him just a touch, hoping he would see fit to say more.

“Traiter, you’re a Rebel to the last, I see,” Kylo said with disdain.  He closed his gloved fist again, feeling the man’s trachea pinch beneath his fingers.  “But I have a message for you and whatever is left of that miserable ragtag band you call a Resistance.” 

He drew his face close.  He could smell the man’s fear, but he could also smell the tang of his defiance. 

“Rey is with _me_ now.”  Kylo’s eyes gleamed with triumph.  “She is mine.”  He allowed himself a small smile behind his fierce mask, wondering if the satisfaction in his voice carried through the modulator.  “Go tell your pitiful band that.” 

With that he released him, returning to the scarred landscape of D’Qar.  Stormtroopers were lined in formation, awaiting his orders.  He felt no other life forms on D’Qar.  The Resistance had either pulled out, or the other rebels who had stayed were vanquished.  He had left the traitor to send the message he intended.  His job on the surface was done.

\---

It was late when he arrived on board the ship.  After the debrief, he headed to his quarters.  He searched for Rey through the Force, but he was unable to find her.  A brief moment of dread quickened his senses, making him walk noticeably faster.  He reached out again, his breath coming in short pants.  The key lock on his quarters opened neatly for him, and he rushed inside. 

“Rey!”  He called into the dimly lit rooms.  Realizing he still wore his helmet, he carefully took it off, dropping it by the door.  Kylo rushed into his bedroom, panic a cold fist in his chest. 

He found her curled up on his bed in the grips of another nightmare. 

Relief flooded him.  The fear he had experienced at not being able to feel her through the Force had blindsided him.  Wherever she was in her dreams, she was very far away. 

He leaned in close to her, the usually soft features chiseled in anguish.  Intermittingly, her brow furrowed, lips murmuring against some secret demon.  She whimpered, and tears poured forth from beneath tightly closed eyelids. 

It hurt something deep inside of him to watch her struggle in her private pain. 

He moved to the end of the bed.  The mattress dipped under his weight as he settled on it.  Quietly, he moved up behind Rey.  Slowly and without thinking, he wrapped his arms around her and drew her body to his. 

She moved a little in his embrace, but she did not tense nor did she wake.  Kylo relished the feel of her against him, soft and warm.  She fit perfectly to his body and smelled fresh and good.  He pressed his face into her hair and inhaled, cleansing his nostrils of the stench of the battlefield. Cleansing his soul. 

The light that pulsed between them whenever they touched glowed stronger, and he caught a glimpse of her through the Force.  She was far away, shrouded in darkness, but she was there.  He closed his eyes against her hair, willing their light stronger.  _Come back, Rey,_ he said to her in his mind, _Come back to me._

She awoke with a gasp, her body starting slightly to find herself in his arms.  He stroked her arm lightly in response, and she seemed to relax against him. 

He smelled like war…like ozone and sweat and the chaos of battle.  It was familiar to her and comforting.  He still wore his gloves, his cloak, his boots--the dirt of whatever world he had just stomped into submission was still on the soles.  She relaxed into his embrace, closing her eyes. 

“Tell me where you were,” he said.  His voice was low, insistent, and hot against her neck.  His body was warm and heavy behind her.  She swallowed. 

“I was back on Jakku,” she said quietly.  She hated how small she sounded, how weak.  Kylo tightened his embrace, encouraging her, strengthening her.   It felt so strange yet so good to be touched.  It had been so long. 

“I was scavenging a star destroyer,” she continued.  With that, Kylo smiled into her hair.  “Scavenger,” he teased, and she playfully elbowed him in the ribs. 

“I was climbing so high.”  Her voice grew very quiet.  “I was just a girl.”

Kylo closed his eyes, listening.  He imagined with sadness, with ire, the brave girl who had raised herself on an outer rim planet, the little girl who had deserved so much more. 

“I fell,” she said breathlessly.  “I just kept falling and I—“

He dropped his head to her shoulder, exhaling a long breath.  “Did that really happen,” he asked softly.  He already knew the answer.  He could feel it in her sadness…in her fear. 

“Yes,” she breathed.  “And I broke my shoulder.  It was a bad fracture.  It broke the skin.”  

“And there was no one there to help you,” Kylo said.  His throat tightened.  Tentatively, he eased back the strip of linen covering her right shoulder under which the edge of a silvery white scar was barely visible.  He pressed his lips to it. 

“This one,” he said almost reverently.  It wasn’t a question.  Her sharp intake of break reverberated in his chest, making the energy thrum between them. 

“Rey,” he said, and at the sound of her name she turned in his arms to face him.  Her cheeks were flushed, and her lips were full and dewy.  Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, but they sparked with a rare light.  He saw, not for the first time, that she was a beautiful thing.   

“If you want, you’ll never be alone again,” Kylo said with conviction.  _I’ll be there to heal your broken parts_ he said to her through the Force, _if you’re willing to accept mine._

Rey studied his features…the finely cut face, the soft and earnest eyes, the scar she had marked him with.  Her hand went up to touch the rapidly healing gash he had inflicted on her some days before.  In some ways they were forged by fire…bonded by the blade…two people thrown together by the chaos of the universe.  But in this moment, there was peace. 

She pressed her lips to his, and all peace in their universe fell away. 

The light that thrummed between them brightened to an incredible blinding radiance.  Stars went supernova.  Black holes swallowed planets.  Civilizations were born, lived out their days, then were winked out in an ice age and were gone in the breadth of an instant.  The warmth that was present whenever they touched blazed into a fire that burned without pain…a fire that burned and made its victims desire more of its flames.  

Kylo started in surprise, and then quickly moved his lips over hers.  They were soft and strong; Rey of Jakku was not a shy kisser.  His hand went around to cup her face.  He paused to strip off a glove…to bury his hand in the tresses he’d so carefully smoothed hours before.  She opened to the heat of his mouth, and a shock through the Force nearly stole his breath.

 _Fill in my broken pieces_ , he thought only to himself, _fill them in and make me whole again_. 

-0-0-0-


	8. Allegiance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey screamed in frustration, causing the lamp on the bedside table to rise briefly. Kylo’s eyes flamed. Rey was so strong…just her raw power showed such promise. “That’s it Rey,” he coached her enthusiastically. “Use it. Use your power!” He took another step toward her, his hand twitching over his lightsaber. Perhaps if he threatened her, it might be just enough for her to fully embrace her darker nature.

-0-0-0-

They pulled away, breathless. 

Rey rested her forehead against Kylo’s, and their worlds seemed to combine and focus into a central point in the universe.  “I’m sorry,” she panted.  “I’ve just never done that before.”

Kylo swallowed, deciphering her meaning.  _Could Rey have been that sheltered on Jakku?_   It didn’t matter.  Nothing mattered but now.  He shushed her, coaxing an errant piece of hair behind an ear. 

She looked up at him, worrying a kiss-swollen lip between her teeth. Her face took on a crimson blush.  “I mean, I have taken men into my bed, but I never let them kiss me.” 

Her eyes searched his, almost as if she expected judgment or rebuke.  She found none. 

He smiled.  “I’m honored to be your first, Rey of Jakku.”  He took her hand from where it lay against her hip and placed a gentle kiss on the inside of her wrist.  The embarrassment bled from her face, replaced by the rosy glow of his attentions. 

She returned his smile.  “You can also be my second,” she said with a twitch of her mouth.  “If you wish.” 

He pressed his hips into hers, where she could feel the full length of his arousal.  Her sex throbbed. 

“Oh, I wish it,” Kylo said with a wicked grin.  He grabbed her face with both hands, stroking it gently, then he let their worlds collide. 

Kylo had spent most of his life running from the light, but now, he embraced it.  The light they created…the force that existed between them…he chased after it; he let it devour him. 

This was the kiss of a dying man, Rey thought wildly, a man possessed.  He crushed her mouth to his, deepening their previous kiss and leaving her breathless and rattled.  He moved to her jawline, his full lips trailing soft kisses down the delicate column of her neck.  She moaned, and he nipped her where the sound vibrated through her skin.  All she could do was hold on…one hand in his hair, the other with her nails dug into his back. 

“You are…,”Kylo began in earnest, “a desert rat,” he said laughing.

She punched him in the side then, and he kissed her again.  “No,” he corrected.  “You are my Dark Queen,” he said, burrowing into her shoulder, “as soon as you swear your allegiance to the First Order of course.”

Rey propped on an elbow, looking at him.  “As soon as I what?”

Kylo sat up, blinking at her.  “Swear your allegiance to the First Order.” 

Rey met him there, staring at him.  “Kylo, I’m not doing that.” 

He looked at her in utter shock.  “Yes, you will,” he said to her.  “There’s no other way.”

Rey stood, defiance leaching into her face.  “I swear allegiance to no one.”

Kylo looked as though he’d been betrayed.  He stood and crossed to her, but she dodged him.  Instead of moving to hold her, he held his arms out at his side in a pleading gesture.

“Rey, you are an enemy combatant.  For me to train you as my apprentice you must swear allegiance.”

Rey looked up at him, feeling cornered.  She averted her eyes.  “Take me back to my cell,” she said quietly.  She could feel something building within her, something dark and frightening. 

Kylo did not back away, although he could feel the force pulsing around her.  He pushed back against it. “No,” he said simply.  “You don’t belong in a cell.” 

Rey screamed in frustration, causing the lamp on the bedside table to rise briefly.  Kylo’s eyes flamed.  Rey was so strong…just her raw power showed such promise. “That’s it Rey,” he coached her enthusiastically.  “Use it.  Use your power!”  He took another step toward her, his hand twitching over his lightsaber.  Perhaps if he threatened her, it might be just enough for her to fully embrace her darker nature. 

Her eyes narrowed, and Kylo could feel her fear, her anger.  He decided to push her.  In a sudden move he grabbed her, but she wrenched free, pushing out with the force and head-butting him so that he had to let her go.  She scurried across the bed so they were on opposite sides now.  He didn’t want to hurt her, but he knew he couldn’t let her escape the bedroom.  He had left the door of his quarters unlocked. 

Kylo launched himself over the bed, knocking her against the wall.  His entire weight pressed into her, and he drew her hands back over her head, fixing her there.  He could feel her pushing out with the force, but she was untrained, and her rage had left her unfocused.  She grunted in frustration, arching against him. 

“Listen to me,” he said.  “You can have your own quarters as a trainee.”  He looked into her fierce eyes, waiting for her breathing to relax.  “And I can see you,” he finished. 

She no longer strained against him, but he could feel her taut body against his, and how her nipples strained against the thin fabric of her clothes.  He did nothing to hide his arousal.

“You do not belong in a cell, Pet,” he cooed softly. She bucked gently beneath him, and he tightened his hold on her.

“I’m not your pet,” she said acidly, refusing to look at him.

Kylo smiled, grazing his thumb over her wrist.  “You are my pet,” he said. “And you’ll be my queen.  And you’ll never see the inside of that cell ever again.”

She finally looked at him.  “Let me go,” she demanded. 

He nosed her hair intimately as she writhed beneath him.  “Not yet,” he said. He licked a drop of sweat that was making its way down the side of her face.  “You fought so bravely, Rey of Jakku.  You’re so strong.” 

He kissed his way to her mouth, finding it pliant and willing. 

“You’re going to do as I say,” he said as he hovered near her mouth.  It wasn’t a question.

“Yes,” she breathed. 

“Good,” Kylo whispered.  “Very good.” 

\---

Rey stood at the threshold of her new quarters as the door slipped closed behind her.  She was no longer in binders, but she could hear the door lock behind her as soon as her Stormtrooper escort had walked away. 

Free, yet not free.  In fact, she felt more imprisoned than ever. 

Her quarters were spacious, yet not as cavernous and dark as Kylo’s had been.  There were more lights here.  There was a small desk, a table with two chairs, a couch and a bed.  She walked a little further into the space and saw it had its own fresher, complete with bath and shower.  Compared to her little makeshift home on Jakku, it was a palace.

On the bed, spread neatly on the lush-looking comforter, was a long gown of some sort in a deep red color.  She touched the fabric with some measure of awe.  It was the softest thing she’d ever felt. 

“It’s shimmersilk,” came a deep voice from the threshold of a door she hadn’t noticed.  She looked up to see Kylo with his arms stretched against the frame. 

“Where did you come from,” she asked, frowning.

He only smiled.  “We’re neighbors,” he said, stepping across the threshold.  “And that’s for sleeping,” indicating the delicate gown lying on the bed.  “It’s a present.  For you.” 

“That door adjoins your quarters?”  She looked passed him, at where he had entered, and swallowed.

“Yes,” he said simply, and for the first time, she noticed that he wasn’t wearing his usual clothes.  He was more—stripped down—for lack of a better term she could think of.  He wore loose black pants slung low on his hips and a soft black shirt.  She saw that his feet were bare.  He looked dressed for bed. Rey’s mouth went dry at the sight of him so unguarded…at a peek of the man underneath all of the terror and ceremony. 

“That door doesn’t lock,” he said, and his voice was rough.  “If you need anything in the night, I’ll be there.” 

He was in her space now; how that had happened she wasn’t sure, and his body was still hot from the shower he must’ve taken moments before.  He took her gently at the elbow, pressing his lips into her temple.  “After you’ve prepared for bed, come into my room.  I want to see you.” 

She reddened almost immediately, her eyes darting to the silken, nearly sheer gown.  “I want to see you in that,” he said, as if it was a point that needed clarification.  Reluctantly, she nodded. 

He kissed her forehead then, and left her standing in the new quarters looking at the delicate garment lying on the bed. 

\---

She did not knock.  She pressed the panel on the door that connected her to him and it slid open with a whisper.  She waited to be invited.  It was so dark inside, she wondered if he might be asleep. 

“Come in,” he said roughly.  His voice was ragged with sleep, and Rey could hear the bed groan as he rolled over to turn on the lamp.  Rey entered the room quietly and stood nervously on the other side of the bed, the moon behind her. 

Kylo got up and walked to her, stopping a few feet before entering her space so he could take her all in.  His hair was tossled, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. 

The shimmersilk conformed to her body like molten lava, changing with the moonlight as its beams and shadows danced across the threads.  It was deliciously sheer, so Kylo took in the creamy skin as it shone beneath the dark red fabric, the stiff peaks of her breasts, the dark swath of curls between her legs. 

“You are stunning, my Rey.”  He reached out to brush her cheek, to soften the firm set of her mouth.  “Don’t be nervous.”  He brushed a thumb over her lips, and her mouth opened slightly.  “You’re so beautiful.” 

She exhaled and closed her eyes.  He pressed a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth.  “I bought this gown on Dramassia for a woman I could see but didn’t know,” he murmured.  Then, he showed her the vision he had seen.  It was Rey, only flames rose up around her, obscuring her face.  She wore the gown she wore now, and Kylo embraced her.  His arms wrapped protectively around her, and the wind rising from the flames blew the beautiful gown; it whipped around his legs, it conformed to her body with ease and beauty, it whirled on the wind that surrounded them both.  The storm died down, and he kissed her.  Neither of them burned. 

“See,” he told her.  “The gown is yours.” 

Her heart was beating faster than normal, and she was breathing rapidly.  She looked into his eyes.  “Yes,” she breathed. 

Kylo caressed her face and smiled.  “Yes what?” he asked her. 

She looked into his eyes.  “Just yes,” she said. 

He kissed her again, and then slowly moved down her neck to the delicate strap at her shoulder.  His hands were at the small of her back, and she could feel them dip lower, lower still until they were cupping her ass through the thin fabric.  She closed her eyes, sighing into him.  Suddenly, he closed his mouth over one of her breasts.

She gasped, and he moaned his appreciation as her hands flew to his bare shoulders, kneading small circles there.  She rocked into him, knees weak as he suckled at her through the sheer, silken fabric.  He pulled at a nipple, and she squeezed her legs together to keep the wetness of her arousal from snaking its way down her legs. 

Kylo dropped to his knees and put his nose in the dark curls.  He pressed the fabric to her skin and inhaled deeply.  “You are incredible,” he whispered.  “So perfect.”  He placed his head against her abdomen, and her hands dropped to his hair.  “You will make a powerful warrior, my Rey.” 

Her hands dragged along his arms as he stood to face her, and then he held hers.  “Your training resumes tomorrow.”  He kissed one hand.  “You need your rest.” 

Then, registering her disappointment he added, “There will be time for other things,” he said with a smile.  “All the time you desire.” 

-0-0-0- 


	9. Mine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kylo rushed her, shoving her to the ground, pinning her instantly with the full weight of his body. He had the advantage in size, but Rey was quick and resourceful; she had to use that to gain any ground on him. She used the knuckles of two fingers to punch him in the solar plexus, momentarily disabling him so that she could slide out from under him. Before he could get up, she placed a sound stomp to the back of both heels. 
> 
> But he wasn’t done. He came at her low this time, a feat for such a tall man, and rushed her at the knees. She ended up over his shoulders, coming down hard on her back behind him. He followed suit, falling to one shoulder and rolling to her position to pin her once more. This time he caught her before she could stand. 
> 
> It was the worst position to get out of. His large body caging her at the hips…his broad chest hovering just out of reach of her head. His hands held both arms pinned to the floor. 
> 
> She worked her body beneath him, feeling him tense. He looked down on her victoriously. “Do you surrender?” 
> 
> She gritted her teeth. “Never.” 
> 
> He ground his hips into her for emphasis, letting the hard length of him ignite her core. “Then fight, apprentice.”

-0-0-0-

Rey slumped against the wall of the training room, sweat running down her face and between her breasts in rivulets. 

“Have you had enough?”  Kylo Ren stalked in front of her, his training saber twirling in his right hand.  His hair was damp with sweat, and the lightweight black clothing he wore stuck to his firm body.  Rey did not attempt to hide her appreciation. 

Kylo grinned smugly.  “If you want your prize you must take it, Scavenger.”  He traced the tip of his saber over her breasts, then up to the line of her cheek, so close she could smell the ozone.  “As must I,” he finished. 

He was looking at her hungrily, she decided, like a happabore does a place to rest.  She rose to her full height and ignited her saber. 

They clashed violently, Rey letting her footwork guide her across the room, meeting Kylo’s blows with parries as he had shown her, reaching out through the Force to anticipate what he would do next.  She had improved; she could feel it.  Holding the lightsaber felt more natural, an extension of her arm.  She pushed forward, driving into his space with a sweeping strike. 

Kylo yelped, not having backed away quick enough, and grabbed his arm reflexively.  Alarmed, Rey disengaged her lightsaber, but Kylo was quicker.  He took a violent swing at her, singeing her clothes.  “Never lower your weapon, Rey!  Sympathy is the enemy!” He drove her three steps back, her ducking and swerving before she could reignite her weapon again and fight on. 

Seeing that he was maimed, she gathered the Force around her and decided to finish this.  He could feel it too, and pushed back against her.  She tried something she had only been practicing on her own—moving objects.  Kylo was close enough to the rack of lightsabers on the back wall, so she decided to have them all ignite and pin him down, but before she could do it, Kylo had picked her up with the Force and thrown her back about five feet. 

Once she was on her feet and had her breathing under control, she focused once more on the task at hand.  She parried a few more blows, and then one by one, she picked up the lightsabers in her mind, ignited them, and then spiked them into the floor surrounding Kylo.  It happened so quickly that before he could do anything, he was trapped within them, a colorful prison of beams of light. 

Seeing that she had won, Kylo disengaged his lightsaber as did Rey.  She let his prison fall away, and twenty or so harmless lightsaber hilts fell onto the floor.   Kylo walked slowly toward her. 

“Well done, my apprentice.  But you did not finish off your opponent.  A student of the dark side always finishes what they start.” 

She swallowed.  “What would you have me do, kill you?” 

He smiled.  “At least simulate it.” 

He smoothed her hair back from her face with his large hands, his eyes shining.  “You did so well today.” 

She looked at his arm, then at him.  “You’re hurt.” 

His face remained unchanged.  “It’s just a scratch.  Another memento.”  He ran a hand down the long scar she had marked him with.

She looked at him questioningly.  “These weren’t training sabers were they?”

Kylo shook his head. 

“You could’ve gotten us both killed, you know that!”

Kylo’s face remained impassive.  “Doubtful,” he said simply. 

He postured himself in front of her, deceptively calm, his hands behind his back.  “Are you ready,” he asked. 

She sighed.  Hand-to-hand combat training was her least favorite, but she supposed she was ready.  She stood similarly, her hands behind her back.  “Yes,” she said. 

Kylo rushed her, shoving her to the ground, pinning her instantly with the full weight of his body.  He had the advantage in size, but Rey was quick and resourceful; she had to use that to gain any ground on him.  She used the knuckles of two fingers to punch him in the solar plexus, momentarily disabling him so that she could slide out from under him.  Before he could get up, she placed a sound stomp to the back of both heels. 

But he wasn’t done.  He came at her low this time, a feat for such a tall man, and rushed her at the knees.  She ended up over his shoulders, coming down hard on her back behind him.  He followed suit, falling to one shoulder and rolling to her position to pin her once more.  This time he caught her before she could stand. 

It was the worst position to get out of.  His large body caging her at the hips…his broad chest hovering just out of reach of her head.  His hands held both arms pinned to the floor. 

She worked her body beneath him, feeling him tense.  He looked down on her victoriously.  “Do you surrender?” 

She gritted her teeth.  “Never.” 

He ground his hips into her for emphasis, letting the hard length of him ignite her core.  “Then fight, apprentice.” 

She closed her eyes, ignoring the sensations he was causing to course through her body.  She concentrated on the hands that held hers above her head.  He did not hold her wrists, but her hands...a miscalculation on his part.  If she could dig her nails in at just the right angle. 

Kylo yelled a litany of curses as he drew one hand violently back.  Five little half-moon indentations now bright red colored his skin.  Rey used the opportunity to lob him a left hook, catching him right in the chin and effectively moving him far enough off of her for Rey to roll out from under him.  She stood up hastily, catching her breath. 

He sat on the floor, rubbing his sore cheek with his bloody hand.  “Good,” he breathed.  “Time for showers,” he said.  “I’ll go first.” 

The fresher in the training room was sparse and obviously not built for privacy.  There were five shower stalls in all, divided by permacrete and durasteel with no curtain in front.  There was a single vanity with sinks and a long hazy shatterproof mirror.  Rey doubted a woman had ever been in there. 

The fresher was still humid from Kylo’s shower, and she had barely gotten her hair down before the door opened, startling her.  It was Kylo.  He was wearing a white towel and nothing else.  He came into the room and sat down in a straight back chair opposite the shower stalls. 

She swallowed hard when she saw him there, in this most intimate of places, barely clothed.  The angry burn where she had nicked him before still shown on his left arm.  He had never gone for bacta. 

“What are you doing here?”

He eased down lower in the chair, making himself comfortable.  His legs parted a little, and the towel opened slightly.  Her throat tightened.  “I’m going to watch you.” 

Her face burned.  She could feel the redness blooming from her chest all the way to her cheeks. 

She said nothing.  It would do no good to protest.  Kylo Ren would have his way. 

She continued unknotting her hair.  She could feel his eyes on her, the way he watched her every move.  He was completely entranced even by this mundane act. 

She started on her clothing.  Rey decided to pretend he wasn’t there, to go about this like she would any other day, that it would be easier, but when the full weight of Kylo Ren’s attention is on you, it’s not so easy to pretend.  She removed her arm bands first, carefully unwrapping them and dropping them in a bundle on the vanity.  He watched all of this impassively, as if recording it to memory.  She worked on the strips of linen that covered the rest of her body, leaving her breast band and underwear until the very end.  Finally, she stood bare before him.  For the first time, she let her eyes meet his.  There was fire there and something else she couldn’t place.  She looked down and he had taken himself into his hand. 

Rey swallowed.  She had never seen his naked body, and she found herself wanting to linger over his length as he now took in every inch of her skin.  Instead, she averted her eyes and stepped into the shower.  She let the hot water run over her body, matching the heat that now rushed through her veins.  She stole another look at him, the towel open now.  He held himself in a firm grip as he smoothed a bead of precum over the silken length and began to stroke himself in a slow but steady rhythm.  He was long and thick.  She bit her lip. 

She turned her head, not wanting to stare but at the same time needing to see more.  He was beautiful...stars he was beautiful.  She filled her palm with the standard issue soap that was in the stall dispenser and slathered it over her head and body, working up a lather and trying to forget who sat watching her every move and stroking himself not five feet from where she stood. 

Kylo watched her in rapt attention, planning where he would put his tongue, how he would taste her, how she would sound when she came.  All of these things were a kaleidoscope of senses as he worked himself to completion.  He liked it best when she stole little glances at him.  Shy, covert looks like he wouldn’t notice.  Her pert breasts stood in stiff peaks against the profile she cast on the shower stall wall.  He wanted to take her now, to push her against the slick shower stall and pound into her until she cried out.  He wanted that more than anything.  His cock throbbed and he quickened his pace.

Rey rinsed her hair, closing her eyes under the water and letting it skate over her skin.  She washed the rest of her body, letting her hand linger a moment between her legs before pulling away.  Kylo was so far gone he barely noticed.  His teeth were clenched and his eyes were shut tight.  He was perfect.  It was all she could do to stand there under the water without rubbing her legs together for relief.

“Touch yourself for me Rey,” he said as if reading her mind.  He opened his eyes and looked at her.  “I know you like to.  I know about that night in your cell.” 

She pressed her lips together, but said nothing.  Instead, she closed her eyes and let her hand drift down between her legs where she was already aching with arousal.  She parted her folds, spreading the wetness there, and slipped two fingers in. 

She gasped, unfamiliar with the eroticism of doing this in front of another person.  When she opened her eyes, Kylo was there with her, towel gone, water pouring down on top of both of them. 

“Come for me Rey,” he said roughly.  “Come hard and fast.” 

He still worked himself with his right hand, his erection now pressed flush against her abdomen.  She could feel the heat of him burning her skin. 

With the other hand he worked her breast, rolling one nipple between his thumb and forefinger.  She could feel herself clinch around her fingers, and she whimpered.  “That’s it, Pet,” he mouthed against her neck.  “Harder.” 

She thrust her fingers in and out, bearing down on her center with the heel of her hand until her legs began to shake.  Kylo mouthed her neck, her ear, biting the lobe.  “Come for me,” he whispered in a ragged breath.  He was working himself in short uneven strokes. 

Suddenly he pushed her into the wall, startling her with his ferocity, and rode out his orgasm with his face buried in the crook of her neck.  He nipped her and she cried out, her muscles clenching again, and she crooked her fingers into the tautness, desperate for release. 

He was breathing heavily when he finally brought his face up to look at her.  He wiped the spend from her abdomen and kissed her roughly.  “Mine,” he said. “Now come for me.” 

With both hands free he held her in his arms, his eyes roving over her body.  He absorbed the gentle sway of her breasts in time with her hands, the way her toes flexed and relaxed as her body prepared for release, the rise and fall of her breath.  “You are beautiful,” he told her. 

She threw her head back, her arousal at a crescendo she was unwilling to come down from.  Kylo held her close, feeling her body tense.  He spoke, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying.  Her eyes were shut tight; she was floating.  Kylo grabbed her breast, and the world exploded into stars.  She cried out, her muscles a vice around her hand, her hips bucking.  Kylo was there…always there.  His lips peppering kisses along her crown, down her temple, smothering her mouth.  His hands smoothing along her thighs, leaving gooseflesh in their wake.  Kylo was there and would always be there. 

She came down pressed tightly against Kylo’s chest, his fingers digging into her back like he was afraid to let her go.  They were on the floor of the shower stall, a tangle of limbs as water poured down on them from above. 

Rey pushed off of him, blinking water out of her eyes as she sought his.  She reached up and traced the edge of the lightsaber scar where it bit into his jawline down his neck and into his pectoral muscle, her fingers still slick.  “Mine,” she whispered.

-0-0-0-


	10. Freedom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I thought of how my whole life I had just been something to take from, and nothing to give to.”

-0-0-0-

Rey awoke in her quarters, stretching into the morning’s sore muscles.  She stood and opened the viewing pane.  They were passing on the dark side of another nameless planet, a pretty one, with bright violet swirls, deep slashes of blue and clouds.  She pressed her hand against the vastness of space. 

She heard rustling from Kylo’s quarters and hastily grabbed one of the sheets from the bed to wrap herself in before the door slid open.  Even though they had seen each other naked, Rey was still somewhat modest.

He strode in a little unsteadily with mussed hair and no shirt.  He stopped when he saw her standing at the viewing pane wearing nothing but a sheet. 

She threw her head back anyway like nothing was amiss.  “Good morning.  Did you sleep well?”  

Kylo smiled wryly, taking her in as she stood by the view panel, her hair down, one arm around the sheet covering her lithe body.  “Fairly well.”  He continued his amused study, rubbing his ever-smooth chin.  “You seem to have had a better night.  Tell me Rey of Jakku, do you usually sleep nude, or is there a stowaway aboard I should worry about?”

She blinked at him in confusion, and then frustration.  “That’s not nearly as funny as you hoped it would be.” He laughed anyway, making his way to her without her noticing.  Suddenly, he picked her up and tossed her on the bed, eliciting a yelp from Rey.

“Kylo!,” came a muffled scream, followed by laughter and cursing.  Kylo settled himself next to her, his large hands resting on her stomach. 

“No stowaway,” she said when she had caught her breath.  “That beautiful gown of yours is simply uncomfortable for sleep.” She looked up at him almost apologetically.  “I don’t have anything else.” 

Kylo laughed and began to move his hands over the outline of her body.  “That’s a problem that is easily corrected, but while we’re here, may I unwrap this beautiful package?” His eyes narrowed hungrily. 

Rey batted his hand away.  “No you may not!  I want you to unlock this door.”  She looked up at him, her eyes hard.  “I’m tired of being taken places and led places and allowed to go places.  If I am your student and not a prisoner, than fully treat me like one.” 

There. She had said it.  Rey watched his eyes for a response, for any sign of his reaction so she could prepare a counterargument. 

But Kylo simply took her hand and kissed it.  “If you want out of this room apprentice, unlock it yourself.” 

\---

The first thing she needed was clothes.  As soon as Kylo was gone, she slipped through the door that led to his quarters and opened his dresser.  She felt funny at first, going through his things.  She found maybe the only grey t-shirt Kylo had ever owned and a pair of boxer shorts.  Where her previous training clothes had come from, she didn’t know, but she would love them right about now.  There was something intimate about being in his clothes, though, even if she wasn’t too pleased with him at the moment. 

Rey sat on her feet in the middle of her quarters, her eyes half-closed.  She had only just begun to gain confidence in manipulating objects with the Force, and when it came to delicate devices like lock mechanisms, she was yet unpracticed.  If Kylo felt she could do it, however, she was at least going to try. 

She gathered the Force around her, fed it, let it strengthen, and then she directed all of her attention to that small mechanism inside the door.  She knew what kind of lock it was.  A simple signal relay switch, the standard type she used to swipe from junked start destroyers on Jakku.  She could see the instrumentation panel in her mind, the relay switches.  She tried a few relays, but they didn’t work.  In her mind, she pictured more combinations.  She stretched out with the Force and tried those.  They didn’t work.  She could feel her frustration rising.  She couldn’t let herself get distracted.

Or maybe she could.  She remembered what Kylo was always saying, to use her anger, to let it make her stronger.  If it would get her out of this room, she would gladly do it. 

Rey had plenty of anger.  She had been _taken._   Taken from her parents.  Taken from the Resistance.  And while being here…while being with Kylo was now better than it was--and different--her freedom had been taken by him as well.  And here she was performing parlor tricks to gain it back.  Everything…taken.  Taken from her. 

With an ear-splitting explosion, the door panel blew open like a tin of military rations. 

When Rey made it to the training room, Kylo already had her training saber down off the wall.  He was smiling smugly. 

She looked at him indignantly.  “You knew I was going to make it out, didn’t you?”

He nodded.  “Running around my ship in my underwear was a surprise, but you always keep things interesting, my Rey.”

He tossed her the lightsaber, and she flicked it on, still quite pissed. 

“Why the game then?  Why put me through all of this,” she asked, gesturing to her ridiculous outfit, “If you knew I was just going to succeed?”

“Because it’s not a game!” he said as he turned to her.  “It’s training!  It’s making you stronger!”  He looked at her, his face impassive.  “Of course I knew you could do it.  I know how strong you are.  But I knew you couldn’t do it without embracing your darker nature.  So I put you in a situation where you would be forced to.” 

She looked at him blankly.  “So you tricked me.” 

Kylo twirled his lightsaber, pacing now.  “I _trained_ you.” 

She shook her head in disbelief, lowering the lightsaber before she felt rather than saw Kylo coming after her and put up a parry to block his vicious blow.  He had stopped holding back with her weeks ago. 

“You’re anticipating.  Good.”  He stalked around her like a predator does his prey, and she matched his moves, her muscles taut.  “Tell me how you broke out of your quarters, Rey.  What did it?”

She said nothing.  Through the Force she threw an aural distraction to the left, feinted that way and then struck at Kylo to the right.  He caught her blow just in time with a parry over his left shoulder. 

He laughed delightedly.  “What did you think of that got you so worked up?  I won’t be denied, Scavenger.” 

Rey’s eyes flamed.  “Don’t call me that again,” she said darkly, and drove him back about two feet with three quick flashes of her training saber.  “Not all of us had our lives handed to us on gilded platters.”

The look in his eyes caught her breath.  She had wounded him, for sure.  It was the first time she had ever brought up his past, and she was immediately sorry.  Her muscles tensed, and she raised the feeble training saber in a defensive posture.  True to form, he struck at her more fiercely, like when he had driven her down over the chasm in the forest, like he wanted to end her right then and there. 

“What did you use to blow the door?!” he nearly screamed, every other word punctuated by a blistering slash of his lightsaber, and all she could do was shelter under the beam of light he had given her until he had her pinned against the wall, his own training saber crossed against her neck. 

“I used my _anger_!” she spat viciously.  I thought of all that had been taken from me!  I thought of how I had been taken from my parents! From my life on Jakku!”  Her eyes changed as she regarded him.  “And I thought of you,” she said, opening her mind to him.  “Of how you took me from the Resistence.  From my friends.  From my future with them.”  It was something she had never mentioned until now, and there it was.  She swallowed around the knot in her throat.  “I thought of how my whole life I had just been something to take from, and nothing to give to.”

Her voice had softened then, and Kylo disengaged his saber and stepped away from her.  He looked away. 

“That was good,” he said, but his voice was hollowed out.  “We can use our inner hurts to fuel our power…make us stronger.” 

She just stood there, looking at him.  He turned and stalked toward the lightsaber rack near the back of the training room.  Halfway there he stopped, turned and looked at her. 

“I’ll take no more from you than what you’re willing to give,” he said quietly.  “That’s my word, and I don’t give it lightly.” 

She gaped at him, standing there with her training saber on the far side of the room.  She nodded.  “I don’t take it lightly,” she said. 

He pressed his lips together in a small smile and inclined his head.  “That’s enough for today,” he pronounced.  He was already taking off his gloves.  Rey blinked, pulled from the moment.  “But we’ve just got started.”  Kylo nodded, but he had already turned and was walking away.  “It’s enough for today.” 

He was putting away his lightsaber, his back to her.  “You can stay in my quarters until your door is repaired,” he said matter-of-factly.  That is, if you don’t mind, of course.” 

She processed that.  He was not telling her, he was asking her.  True to his word.  “No, I don’t mind,” she said. 

“And we’ll get you proper clothes,” he added.  His mouth quirked into a smile.  “So I can get my underwear back.  Although you look absolutely stunning in them.” 

She looked down at her quirky ensemble, feeling anything but stunning. 

When she made no move to leave, he didn’t force her.  He regarded her closely, the way she was watching him.  She was still unsure of his motives or of what she should do since their regular routine was broken. 

“You may stay and train, or you may go back to my quarters.  The entry code is 51847.  Make yourself comfortable there.” 

He stopped in front of her, and despite what they had shared in the showers and all they had been through, he seemed hesitant to touch her.  Reverently, he let his bare knuckles brush the outline of her cheek. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, and he let his forehead fall against hers.  A few errant tears slipped down Rey’s cheek, and he kissed them away. 

Rey’s lips found his mouth, and it was pliant and hot.  They had not joined in this way in such a long way that it stole her breath.  Kylo hitched her up and she wrapped her legs around him.  

They fell against the wall in the same place he had pinned her with the lightsaber just moments earlier.  Kylo’s full lips had moved to her neck now, lathing over her racing pulse as she clung to his broad shoulders.  She needed more…more of him. 

“I’m taking you planetside tonight,” he said between kisses.  “I want to show you the galaxy.  I want to show you everything.” 

She moved his head up to claim his mouth, sinking her hands in his thick tresses.  “Take me to bed,” she said when they had pulled away. 

“Yes,” he said, and she could feel the full length of him hot against her aching sex, and she wished yes would mean now, that yes would mean immediately, but she knew Kylo had his own plans and his own timeline.

\---

It was hours later when she let herself into Kylo’s quarters.  She had trained until spent, needing somewhere to channel all of that sexual frustration Kylo was causing, and then meditated awhile before hitting the showers.  Fond memories of the last time she was there more than took care of any lingering ire at being kept waiting. 

She knew Kylo wouldn’t be there.  Before he left her in the training room, he had told her he had work to do but that he would meet her later.  So as she pressed further into the darkness that she had grown accustomed to, she did not expect to find him.  She also, however, did not expect to find what was there. 

Clothes.  Dozens of articles of clothes all on racks like you would find in a Coruscanti boutique.  But these clothes weren’t boutique clothes…these were _her_ clothes.  Her style, her fit.  Some were a little dressier than others (some were obviously Kylo’s choices), but some were clothes that were practical.  Some were clothes that she would have chosen for herself.  There was a note on the table near the door.  “Choose what you want and leave the rest. – K” 

At that moment a protocol droid came tottering in from the bedroom, excited about the shopping task.  Rey side-stepped the droid and rushed into the bedroom.  Opening the closet, she saw that it had been partitioned exactly in half.  Stepping into the fresher, she saw that the vanity had been done the same way. 

She smiled.  Something told her that the door to her quarters was going to take a very long time to fix, if it was ever repaired at all. 

-0-0-0-


	11. Beautiful

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey had never considered vain things like her attractiveness. On Jakku, her life had been about survival. There were a few times she had used whatever qualities men had seen in her to warm her bed on bitterly cold nights, but she would have never used a world like beautiful to describe herself. Strong, resilient, powerful. Those were words she wanted to be. A word like beautiful had always, to her ears at least, made the recipient sound weak. 
> 
> Yet the few times it had slipped from Kylo’s lips about her, she had not thought of it that way. And standing here in the full-length mirror in Kylo’s fresher, she felt anything but weak.

-0-0-0-

Rey made her way through the racks of clothes, her fingers trailing along the various textures and finishes.  Most were casual clothes in muted palettes of blues, browns, and greys, colors and fabrics she would be comfortable wearing, but a few pieces were rose-tinted or deep orange.  One or two reminded her of a Jakku sunset and, to her surprise, she picked those first. 

Two hours later the bed was full.  The protocol droid seemed mostly pleased with her selections (although made his suggestions known otherwise when he wasn’t).  He tasked himself with putting away the clothing in the closet space.  Her space, she reminded herself, right next to Kylo’s. 

Now to the task she had been putting off.  The formal wear. 

Rey had never worn an evening gown.  She had never been anywhere near a place that would require her to wear one, but apparently she would be very soon because hanging on the racks were several evening gowns to choose from.  There was a light blue shimmersilk gown with cascading flowers down the front, a beautiful jewel-toned gown with an open back and flowing train, and finally a black one with a plunging neckline and a slender belt studded with clear stones that sparkled even in the dim light.  The bottom was pleated in near-transparent layers of black silken fabric.  It was equal parts hard and soft, and when she looked at it, she knew at once that Kylo had chosen it personally.

She swallowed and took it down from the rack, moving her hands over it reverently.  It was the most beautiful gown she’d ever seen.

Suddenly she looked up to see Kylo standing by the door, his helmet in his hand.  He placed it by the door and let the panel slide shut behind him.  He gave her a half smile. 

“Do you like that one?” 

His voice was deep and somewhat tired, but his eyes were alight at seeing her. 

She dipped her head slightly and put it back on the rack. “I don’t think any of these are for me,” she said dismissively.  She brushed her hands off unnecessarily and backed away from them. 

He had closed the gap between them and grabbed one of her hands.  He pressed it to his lips, his eyes never leaving her face.  “They’re all for you if you want them.  Why don’t you try it on and let me see you in it.” 

Her eyes met his and she nodded, giving him a small smile.  “Besides,” he said, “You’ll need a gown for where I’m taking you tonight.” 

She frowned, her eyes growing wide.  “You were serious?  We’re landing tonight?” 

He brushed her cheek.  “Yes Rey.  That is, if you’ll go with me.”  

She smiled broadly.  “Kylo Ren, are you asking me out on a date?”

He reddened, and she laughed in spite of herself.  He gave her a prim smile.  “Why, I guess I am.”  He looked at her with sincerity.  “Well, do you accept, Rey of Jakku?” 

She smiled at him.  “Yes.” 

Her brown eyes sparkled and her hair was already down from her previous shower.  Her skin smelled of soap and a scent that was uniquely hers...like a sun-kissed rose.  Kylo wanted her so badly that he half thought of forgoing the night’s activities and taking her straight to bed, but truthfully he was looking forward to doting on her.  She had seen so little of the world, and he had shown her even less. 

“Go try on your dress,” he said, kissing her forehead.  “We leave in an hour.” 

Rey took the garment from the rack and disappeared into the fresher.  In front of the full-length mirror, she placed it up against her, imagining what it would look like on.

When she finally did slip the evening gown over her head, she barely recognized herself in the mirror.  The woman staring back at her was beautiful.   

Rey had never considered vain things like her attractiveness.  On Jakku, her life had been about survival.  There were a few times she had used whatever qualities men had seen in her to warm her bed on bitterly cold nights, but she would have never used a world like _beautiful_ to describe herself.  _Strong_ , _resilient_ , _powerful_. Those were words she wanted to be.  A word like _beautiful_ had always, to her ears at least, made the recipient sound weak. 

Yet the few times it had slipped from Kylo’s lips about her, she had not thought of it that way.  And standing here in the full-length mirror in Kylo’s fresher, she felt anything but weak.

She stepped out of the fresher to stand before Kylo holding the dress up at her breasts, a small mile tugging at the corners of her mouth.  “I, uh…need some help with the zipper.”

Kylo rose and she turned around, bending her neck to him.

He found the zipper over the gentle swell of her buttocks. She wasn’t wearing any underwear, and he could feel his cock stiffen.  He allowed his knuckles to gently graze the soft skin there, and she gasped.  “Your undergarments are in the dresser,” he murmured.  “I should’ve left that in the note.”  She laughed then, a breathy, self-deprecating laugh, and without her turning around he knew she would be blushing.  The knowledge of that stoked his desire even more, and as he pulled up the zipper on the evening gown, he secretly wished he was pulling it back down again. 

When Kylo was done, he stepped away to admire his handy work.  Rey turned around for him, her hands at her sides. 

He said nothing.  His eyes roamed over her, taking in her ivory breasts framed by a slight décolletage, the strong arms, the studded belt, the layers of pleated shimmersilk floating from a fitted dropped waist as black as the galaxy. 

“Well?” she asked timidly.  “What do you think?”

He cleared his throat.  “Perfect,” he said.

He crossed to the closet and withdrew a pair of black boots with a small heel.  They stopped at the ankle. 

“I got these for you,” he said with a quirk of his mouth.  “This is not what most women would wear with that dress,” he began with humor, “but you are not most women.” 

He said it with affection, with light in his eyes.  “And mostly, I don’t want you falling tonight and injuring yourself.” 

She was biting her lower lip, trying not to laugh.  Indeed, she knew the type of shoes that women wore with evening gowns…the ones with spikes on the heels.  She was glad he wasn’t making her wear them.  They looked more like weapons than shoes. 

Rey allowed Kylo to slip the little boots onto her feet.  They felt good, like she could run and jump in them if needed, and they disappeared under the length of the dress. 

Kylo look pleased.  “I thought as much,” he said, noticing how the length of the gown covered all but the toe.   He looked at her meaningfully.  “And besides,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and letting his hand rest at her neck.  “No one will be looking at your feet.” 

\---

Rey paced nervously in the hangar, the echoes from the small heels on her new boots deafening in the large space.  She walked near the ramp of Kylo’s personal shuttle, deftly avoiding the imposing looking stormtroopers standing at either side of the entrance to the small ship.  Although she was no longer under guard, Kylo still kept one or two around her whenever he wasn’t around or she wasn’t behind closed doors.  She made a mental note to ask him about it.

As if on cue, she felt rather than heard Kylo approach, then turned toward the ensuing footsteps. 

He was--she searched her limited vocabulary for words to describe him…to describe what she saw approaching like a coming storm. 

“Beautiful,” she whispered.  And he was.  Even with the mask he wore, Kylo Ren was something to behold.  He wore a brocade black cowl lined in red.  His cloak was edged in deep black, but his cape was lighter than she had seen it, and it billowed more when he walked.  It was fastened at his neck with a silver chain.  His boots shown like bottomless mirrors, and his clothing underneath hugged his muscular body in a way that bespoke _warrior, lover,_ and _fiend._

He approached her, but said nothing.  The expressionless mask looked passed her, to the guards.  “You may leave,” the chilling voice announced, and once they were alone, he showed himself to her. 

She pressed her face to his chest, and his hand went up to caress her bare shoulders.  She had knotted her hair three times, but closer together and higher up so that they looked like three flowers floating on the surface of a pond.  He closed his eyes. 

“Come Rey,” he said gently.  “We have to go.”

\---

Kylo initiated the landing sequence as the shuttle hovered over the private landing pad of the exclusive restaurant.  Rey, strapped into the passenger’s seat, took in the dazzling vista.  Red and blue vegetation meandered around tall, amorphous buildings, organiphorm architecture and multi-level space traffic. The indigenous beings of the planet were short blue bipeds with slender faces and antennae.  She had been wrong about the violet vegetation, too, she thought absently.  Only from space had it looked that way. 

She looked up and Kylo was holding out his hand.  They had already landed. 

They stepped out onto the deck of one of the tallest buildings in the city on this unfamiliar planet (Kylo stubbornly refused to tell her where they were for security’s sake) and walked a small footpath until they entered a terrace where people were eating and where soft music played.  Kylo held her arm out and she took it, and truthfully every head turned to look at this couple who had just fallen out of the stars to dine with them.

Kylo nodded primly to them, as Rey smiled.  “Maybe we shouldn’t have landed on the roof?” she offered in explanation.

He only smiled at her.  “They’re only looking at you, my dear.  Only you.”

The host and apparent owner of the restaurant met them at the door of the terrace, eager yet not overly eager to meet their needs.  He no doubt knew they were coming and assured Kylo everything was as he had directed.  He led them to a small alcove in the restaurant, a balcony overlooking a garden of red vines climbing a black durasteel gate.  The small table for two was set with a simple candle.

“This is all so beautiful,” Rey said as they sat at the small table.  She smiled at him, her face aglow in the candlelight.  “Thank you.” 

Kylo reached across the table and grabbed her hand.  “Don’t thank me for anything,” he said.  He placed her palm alongside his face, and her fingers threaded his hair.  He kissed her hand.  “This planet became beautiful only a few moments ago.  When you stepped foot on it.”

\---

After their meal--fragrant dishes of steamed fish, fresh fruit, native vegetables, and broth--Kylo stood and extended his hand.   He smiled down at her nervously.  “Would you dance with me Rey?”

Her mouth fell open slightly.  “I don’t know how,” she said sheepishly.  “I mean I would, but—“

“You need a teacher,” he said, mirroring his words from the forest.  He smiled knowingly, and it reached his eyes.  “Let me show you.” 

She took his hand. 

They moved from the balcony onto the dance floor, and quiet murmurs followed them around the room.  The couples dining in the restaurant were mostly non-human, and they spared furtive glances at the attractive, enigmatic couple who had just taken center stage. 

Kylo took Rey’s hand and held it close to his heart.  There was a slight tremble there.  “I’m going to embarrass myself,” she almost hissed. 

He pulled her close, his other hand settling at the small of her back.  “Never,” he assured her.  “Just follow me.” 

He held her hand in frame and led her around the room.  The shimmersilk pleats and Kylo’s cape twirled and floated around them as they turned, giving the impression of them floating across the floor.  The music, a soft and melodic piece from an instrument Rey had never heard seemed orchestrated just for them. 

The Force surged between them.  Rey could feel it in her chest, radiating down her arms and into Kylo.  “I feel it too,” he said to her with his thoughts, “and it’s beautiful.” 

-0-0-0-


	12. Show Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey absorbed his heat, his closeness, silently inhaling the fresh masculine scent that was unmistakably him. She moved quickly beside him, inching ever closer, craving the strength of his arms, the cocoon he created with his mere presence whenever he was close. He slipped his arm around her, complying with her unspoken request.
> 
> Kylo lay in the dark with Rey's body curved against his and bent his head into the crook of her neck. She could feel the whisper of his eyelashes against her skin.
> 
> "You're wrong Rey," he said quietly against her, "I do know what I want."

-0-0-0-

Their dance came to an end, and at once a smattering of applause from the assemblage of diners followed them back to the terrace.  Kylo pulled Rey into a close embrace. 

“I never want to lose you,” he whispered.  She could only hold onto him in response, trying to divine his meaning.  Then, she pulled away from him. 

“I’m not going to try to leave,” she said to him.  “You don’t have to watch me all the time, with the Stormtroopers.” 

He swallowed, and then his mouth lifted in a rueful smile.  “I’m not keeping you from leaving Rey.”  His thumb smoothed her cheek, and she closed her eyes.  “There are others who know about you,” he began.  “They would use you against me.” 

She narrowed her eyes, her mouth tight.  “Who?”

“General Hux, for one.  I kept you a secret for a very long time.  But there’s no use any more.” 

She pondered that.  “Is that why we are away tonight?  Because they already know?” 

Kylo nodded, averting his eyes.  “Yes,” he said.  “There’s no use hiding it now.  Former prisoner Rey is more than just my student,” he said, smiling.

Her eyes went wide, and she pulled back from him.

“What is it?”  He regarded her with some humor at her surprise, then spared her the awkwardness by reading her thoughts.  “Rey surely you know by now my feelings for you are far more than those that are common between a teacher and student.” 

She worried her bottom lip.  “Different, yes.”  Very different.  But despite the intimacy they had shared, most of the signals from him had been…confusing.  “Beyond anything else, we’ve said very little to each other,” she said finally. 

Kylo turned and walked toward the end of the terrace.  “Sometimes words aren’t necessary,” he said into the night air.

\---

They were necessary, she thought to herself in the gloom of Kylo’s quarters as she dressed for bed.  She hung the beautiful black evening gown on a rack in the back of the closet, probably never to be worn again.  _Words were necessary._ She was back on the ship, her gilded cage.  Now she and Kylo dressed for bed in awkward silence, taking turns with the fresher like an old married couple. 

“Done,” she said flatly.  Rey came out of the fresher wearing a long grey t-shirt that struck her just below her backside.  Her hair was wavy from being knotted all night, and it bounced in long springs along her shoulders.  Her face was scrubbed clean. 

Kylo eyed her with humor.  “I thought you had your own sleepwear,” he teased, but in their current state it came out rather coldly. 

She worked her mouth.  “Your shirts are more comfy.”

If she wanted to, she could fight with him.  She wasn’t particularly in the mood.

He nodded, thankful to have dodged that bullet and shrugged into the fresher.  He came out some minutes later in the sleepwear she had seen him in once before…low slung loose-fitting pants and a long sleeve black shirt. 

Rey had already curled up under the covers in his bed and turned off the light, so he spread out onto the couch in his quarters as best he could and stared at the ceiling.  He remembered their dance, remembering Rey’s radiant face and how incredible she had looked in that dress.  Then, just as he was about to drift off--

“Do you remember the last time we were here?”

Her voice was thick with sleep, but he knew exactly what she was referring too. 

“Yes I do.  Your first day of training.  I had pushed you too hard.  You were injured.”

He could feel her nod in the dark.  “I had a concussion,” she agreed.  “But I don’t think it was entirely your fault.” 

Kylo smiled from his place on the couch.  “I don’t think it wasn’t.  I was so worried.” 

Rey frowned.  “You were?” 

“Yes, of course I was.  And mostly I was afraid.”

Rey lookup up into the darkness of the bedroom, listening.  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.  “What were you afraid of?”

“Of you…of you being so close.  I was just beginning to come to terms with my feelings for you.”  He laughed.  “I was terrified.” 

“I think you’re still coming to terms with your feelings,” Rey said coolly and rolled over, turning her back to him.  “And I don’t think you know what you want.”

He lay there wounded and stared up at the ceiling, trying to divine answers from the impressionist swirls of light he saw on his field of vision.  

\---

Rey moaned softly in her sleep. The purity of the sound fell on the room like soft rain. He'd watched her since she first drifted off, thinking of what she’d said to him.

She turned toward him and he could see the deep furrow in her brow, the consternation there.  _Sleep should be a reprieve for her_ , he thought,  _not a nightly torment_. And she should go to sleep at night at least knowing how he feels about her. 

Silently, he cursed his cowardice.  Why couldn’t he just say what he felt?  Why was it so hard to do?

Her arm went beside her, searching, finding emptiness. She sighed and her mouth moved almost imperceptibly. She looked impossibly sad, and to see her need and do nothing seemed suddenly unthinkable.

He stood in the near-dark and approached the bed quietly on the opposite side. The mattress dipped gently as he moved across the bed to her, his movements stealthy so as to not disturb her rest. He lay behind her, his head resting in the curve of her neck, his body flush against hers outside the covers. Even through the thin barrier that separated them, he could feel her heat. He put one arm across her middle, and she sighed. He smiled as he felt her relax against him.

The darkness allowed him the benefit of continuing his observation, and looking at Rey was something he never took enough luxury in. He reclined on his elbow so he could see her face. Gently, he swept her hair back, exposing her neck to the cool air. She stirred quietly but did not wake, and he was confident that she would continue to sleep as long as he was careful. He let his fingertips trace her temple, her hairline, and then down to her neck and imagined kissing her there.

She mewed softly and opened her eyes. She moved partially to look up at him, her eyes bright and somewhat vulnerable. She turned her face into his touch where his fingers still hovered tellingly and merely looked at him. "Your hands are cold. Why don't you get under the covers?"

He studied her face, noting her lack of surprise that he was now lying beside her. Any traces of her previous annoyance with him was gone, or she had chosen to put it away, and for that he was grateful. 

Kylo nodded and left the comfort of her presence for a few seconds as he drew back the blanket, careful to not expose her to the cool air any longer than necessary. When he was by her side once more, he didn't move to embrace her. He was simply there.

Rey absorbed his heat, his closeness, silently inhaling the fresh masculine scent that was unmistakably him. She moved quickly beside him, inching ever closer, craving the strength of his arms, the cocoon he created with his mere presence whenever he was close. He slipped his arm around her, complying with her unspoken request.

Kylo lay in the dark with Rey's body curved against his and bent his head into the crook of her neck.  She could feel the whisper of his eyelashes against her skin.

"You're wrong Rey," he said quietly against her, "I do know what I want."

She was looking away from him, at the sleeping couch he'd spent most of the night on. She knew he was being chivalrous, and she hated him for it. She didn't need that. She needed him.

She slipped her hand in his where it rested below her breasts and turned on her back to face him. He didn't have time to change positions, and their faces were a breath apart. She sighed and it escaped through her gently parted lips, teasing the line of his jaw. She released his hand and ran hers slowly up the length of his arm, testing the taut firmness of the ample muscles beneath his shirt. She looked into his eyes.

"Kiss me Kylo."

His mouth quirked into a cocky smile, but beneath his external confidence, his heart drummed in his chest.  Kylo’s throat tightened just to look at her, and he couldn't remember ever having felt this way about anyone…anything.  Not in his Force studies, not in victory…not in lust.  He studied her mouth, the gentle slope of her cheek, the arch of her eyebrows. Their proximity was such that he couldn't see all of her at once, so he flitted from one feature to another, drunk on her beauty. He met her eyes, dark with need and questioning, waiting. Wanting him.

His hand went up to brush the delicate flesh of her neck, the fan of hair where she lay against the pillow. He continued to look at her, transfixed.

"Kiss me," she repeated, and it pulled him from his revelry.

He studied her lips, and his smile widened into a full-blown smirk. "I heard you," he said smoothly. "I'm deciding on how."

His voice was raw silk with a hint of dark promise. Just the words against her face pooled warmth between her legs, and although this was not their first kiss, this kiss was the first of theirs that hinted at something more. 

She ached for him.

At some point her hands had moved to his chest, and she could feel the steady thump of his heart against her palm. "Dammit Kylo," she said breathlessly, "you can be so maddening at times."

She kissed him hungrily, her tongue sliding between his teeth without preamble, savoring his taste, the heat of him, and getting lost in the little noises rising from the back of his throat.

He responded to her instantly, and his weight settled on her upper body. Possessive. Authoritative.

He felt _good_.  _So damn good_ , she thought, his weight pressing her into the mattress as his talented tongue lavished her mouth. His arms caging her.  And if the physical connection between them wasn’t enough, the Force surged between them, growing hot and bright and causing her limbs to tingle.  Her mind began to tangle with his…his desire…his vision of her…his emotions!

 _Block it out_ , he told her through their connection, _or we won’t survive this_. 

Maybe he was right.  She pushed at the intensity of their bond until she could only feel him…his skin, see his face.  It was better, it felt more real.  She pulled away, breaking their contact as she began working the black shirt over his head.  She worked silently for several moments under the intense scrutiny of his unreadable expression until he moved to still her hands.

He raised her wrist to his mouth. He placed a gentle kiss there, and then another; his tongue flicked between his lips as he traced the warm lines of her pulse. He'd wanted to touch her there like this the first time he’d secured her to his bed. 

The little moan that escaped her lips was sweeter than any music, he decided, and he would never tire of its melody. He couldn't suppress the self-satisfied smile when he realized it was brought to life by his hand.

He separated her hands and brought them back on either side of her head. He held them with enough force to cause her wriggling body to still.  He lowered his mouth to her ear, and she instinctively arched her body into his. Her taut nipples skated against the fabric of his half-rid shirt; she caught the hem of it and hissed through her teeth.

"Slow down," he said seductively, almost amused. Her breath was coming in little pants that, coupled with her hooded eyes, her breasts tight against him, and her swollen, dewy lips were enough to threaten his fortitude.

She responded to his request and almost immediately the resistance against his hold on her began to relax, but not completely dissipate. She worried her lower lip, enjoying dominance of her, secretly thrilling at being pinned by this powerful, dangerous man in his bed. The very thought sent a jolt of heat directly to her center and she moved restlessly under him, needing relief. She brushed the rigid length of him, and he inhaled sharply.

"Stars Rey, you are so beautiful," he murmured into her neck. His words were rushed, lacking the practiced control of his usual diction. She could have freed herself had she wanted to, but she found herself unable to move under his attention.

Kylo could feel the tight swell of her breasts beneath the soft cotton of his t-shirt, but it wasn't enough. He touched the fabric appreciatively. "This has to go," he said darkly. He slid his hand beneath the shirt, relishing in the heat of her smooth skin, exploring briefly what lay beneath before he tugged the fabric up and over her head.

She lay before him, splendorous and perfect. Her wavy hair cascaded around her shoulders, her breasts laid bare, doe eyes looking up at him, vulnerable in her passion but belying the strength there. One hand was up by her head where he had left it, the palm like a half-opened flower.

He realized then how stupid he'd been, how arrogant he was to think himself in control.

A flash of uncertainty crossed her face as she endured his penetrating gaze, and after several moments he realized he'd said nothing. "Perfect," he managed. Given his limited cerebral blood supply at the moment, he found that was pretty eloquent.

She smiled then and her hands went up to caress his face. It was an adoring touch, one that Kylo was not accustomed to. She pulled him into a soft kiss, as passionate as before but less erratic, and her lips lingered there for several seconds.

He pulled away only to return his mouth to the hollow of her throat, her collarbone. He let his teeth graze there momentarily, sending a shock of sensation through her body.  She gasped, and he smiled against her skin. There was so much to delight in, he scarcely knew where to start.

The hand at her waist tracked slowly up her side, gliding smoothly over her ribcage, the flat plan of her stomach. Kylo could feel her breath hitch from the sensation of his hands, the cool air. The skin over the pulse in her neck fluttered rapidly.

Finally, he ran a hand over her breast just enough to cause her to quicken beneath him, and then he took one into his mouth.

Rey twitched against him and breathed his name, and the little sound was even better than the first. He teased one while he suckled at the other, letting his teeth bite into her nipples just enough to delve into that grey area between pleasure and pain.

She was rocking gently into him now, and he felt through the Force as well as through his ministrations that she was close.  He stilled his hands long enough to grab her hip roughly, stilling the movement. He looked her in the face, a dark glint in his eye. "Calm down, now," he chided, and his voice was so full of mirth that it pissed her off.

He watched as she balled her fists petulantly, refusing to look at him, and he chuckled, a low, resonant staccato that seemed to match the staccato of her throbbing sex. He placed a kiss along her abdomen, eliciting a sigh from her either because of or in spite of her frustration, he couldn't be sure, and her hands relaxed. Stars, it was irresistible to see her so worked up, he thought. This fierce, beautiful woman would be his undoing.

Kylo continued his slow exploration, placing a kiss on the smooth skin around her navel and tracing the curve of her hips with his hands. When he found her panties, a black lace pair he’d picked out to go with the evening gown, he slipped a thumb beneath the waistband and gently slid them off.

He sat back and exhaled a slow, steadying breath at the sight of her. Soft brown curls framed by the arc of her feminine curves. Her legs, lean and shapely, akilter among the sheets.

He made a noise she could only label as a growl, a low, hungry sound that caused the tightly-wound coil of desire within her to grow ever larger, threatening to split her in half. He held her at the waist and pulled her down the length of the bed a little rougher than he intended. He reached over and grabbed a pillow and slid it under her hips.

She made a surprised little sound, and then grew quiet. Her eyes were shut and she had one hand over her face.

"Rey," he said as he gently parted her knees, "take your hand away. I want to see your face."

She complied, revealing a deep, rose-colored blush that had spread its way down the creamy column of her neck. He turned his face into the crook of her leg and kissed the side of her knee. "That's better," he breathed.

He took his time, running his hand over the length of her calf, the delicate ankle and down to her feet.

He kissed his way back up, stopping to rest in that little recess between her hip and thigh. What a beautiful spot, he thought. His fingers brushed her sex, slipping inside her but withdrawing just as quickly that she scarcely had time to react and she wondered if it had happened at all. She twisted against him, desperate for more contact to satisfy the sweet agony he had visited upon her.

He stole a glance at her, lips parted and pupils black. She had two fistfuls of sheets and he'd barely touched her. He brought his fingers to his mouth, letting her essence moisten his lips. She had a sweet tang, like berries just before ripening. He closed his eyes.

"Mmm, Rey. You're exquisite." He smoothed a hand along her thigh and lowered his mouth to her.

She bucked beneath him, a series of moans escaping her lips unchecked, and he stilled her hips, intending her to remain there. "Be good," he said as he released her, "I'm going to need my hands."

Her mouth went dry and she had no concept of time or place as his mouth moved against her. She nodded meekly, not remembering the question or command, only that she was agreeing to something, anything, so long as he didn't stop. She felt the crescendo of her climax starting to build low within her, spreading into her legs and arms. He stubbornly ignored her throbbing core, his tongue expertly attending everywhere but there, and she wondered wildly if it might kill her, the want of him. She whimpered at the neglect.

He sat up, leaning over her, and his lips brushed the underside of her breast. He slid two fingers inside her, finding where that little bundle of nerves should be and applying gentle pressure.

He felt her tighten around him, and she was breathing heavily. He placed a flat thumb against her sensitive core and looked up to watch her.

She moved against him now, and he let her, matched her strokes. She arched her back, dug her heels into the mattress as she came, but instead of the relaxed tension of release, she gasped once more, experiencing an intensity, a blinding shock of pleasure that stole her breath. She cried out; her body racked by waves of sensation. She reached for him and he was there, fingers still inside her. He held her with his other arm as her body trembled as it relaxed in blissful degrees. Her face was buried in his shoulder and she was crying.

He leaned forward and kissed her mouth and she tasted herself on his lips.

"This is what I want," he whispered into her hair. She scarcely heard him. She wet her lips, looking into his dark pupils. It was beautiful, but not enough. She needed more; she needed him.

"Kylo." Her hands went up to the v-neck of his shirt, and this time he did not stop her. She kissed his jaw line, the smooth flesh below his ear. She heard him suck in a breath as she nipped the flesh there.  She discarded the shirt and set to work on the pants, deftly sliding them down over his strong flanks with the pads of her feet. 

She smoothed her hands over the strong plane of his shoulders, then down to his chest, marveling at the wonder of him, and further downward, stopping at waist. He stood then, divesting himself of the rest of his clothes. His eyes never left hers.

She was on her knees on the edge of the bed as he stood looking at her in the moonlight. She reached between them and took his erect member in her hand. She looked up into his face, her eyes alight with desire and locked on him.

"I want you inside me Kylo," she said as she stroked him gently. "I need that."

His eyes fluttered closed, and he grunted with the effort it took to maintain control. He swiftly picked her up, laying her against the sheets a little sloppily as he settled on top of her. Rey thrilled inwardly at the danger she saw in him, the want, satisfied in knowing that it was for her, all for her. She pulled his head down to hers, claiming his mouth, his expert tongue of whose talents she would forever be appreciative.

He broke the kiss long enough to look into her face. She gave him a little nod, looking at him through her lashes. She wanted this as much as he did, he realized, and it spoke more words than he could ever say.

He caressed her thigh and then drew her leg up around him to cross over his lower back as he eased inside her.

She gasped, adjusting to his girth. He let out a slow, decompressing sigh as he slid deeper inside her. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever heard. He locked eyes with her as he rocked his hips forward in long, slow strokes.

The deep, smooth heat of him fit her perfectly, made sense somehow. As his presence filled in all of those hollow places she’d scavenged and bartered to keep filled, she realized he’d been missing.  All of these years he'd been missing from her life and she'd never thought to look.

She watched his face change...the emotions flitting briefly across his face like light through a window.  She reached up to caress his shoulders as she matched his rhythm.

He quickened his pace and she made no effort to thwart the moan that escaped her lips. She grabbed his ass, pulling him tightly to her, and heard him groan.

She felt herself tightening around him, and her hands went up to trace the straight column of his back. From the look of concentration on his face she could tell he was close to the edge.

Rey turned her face up to his, and he bent to kiss her. She studied him, breathless and nearly gone. Her hands went up to hold his face, memorizing it, her fingers tracing the scar she had marked him with. "Let go Kylo," she said into his ear. And with two more emphatic thrusts, he did.

She came almost simultaneously, and as she tightened around him Kylo whispered her name. Something inside her broke to hear it and she shuddered against him, legs trembling as he held her tightly. She clung to him and he breathed heavily into her hair as the waves of their orgasm receded between them.

They lay entwined, their spent bodies glistening and weak. Kylo lazed kisses at her temple, her ear, the line of her throat. The contented hum there vibrated against his lips, and he smiled against it.

Rey had heard legends of the greatest Jedi masters and their apprentices…where teacher and student often became one body and one mind, but now she knew it to be true.  Whatever she and Kylo were and wherever they were going, from this moment on, it was true. 

-0-0-0-


End file.
